Just 15 days after new laws were introduced to crack down on foreign interference, the AFP has identified suspected cases and is starting inquiries into individuals.

The Attorney-General Christian Porter said that the government knows "the behaviour goes on".

"We'll be watching very, very closely and we expect that there will be, in due course, prosecutions that arise out of this legislation."

The Attorney-General said ASIO and the AFP had been preparing for the introduction of new laws and expects more investigations to follow.

New laws to crackdown on foreign intelligence have been in place for just 15 days and already the AFP is ramping up investigations. Picture: 9NEWS (9news)

"We don't believe that going forward we will find a shortage of targets."

The legislation followed concerns from the ASIO Director-General Duncan Lewis over the "unprecedented" level of foreign interference.

"We've been observing it, disrupting it, but we haven't had legislative tools at our disposal to legislate it and prosecute it," the Attorney-General said.

Two laws passed the parliament and were given royal assent last month.

The government says under the National Security Legislation Amendment, it's easier to prosecute in cases of espionage.

That law also created new offences for the state-sponsored theft of trade secrets and foreign interference.

There's a separate law that creates a transparency register, for foreign entities to provide the government with their details identifying who they work for.

The new laws make it easier to prosecute cases of espionage and created new offences for the state sponsored theft of trade secrets and foreign interference. Picture: 9NEWS (9news)

As the focus shifts from spying on spooks to prosecuting them, the AFP has been sending officers overseas to countries with similar laws to increase their skills, so they can identify how to get a case to prosecution.

"There are always difficulties investigating and building a brief of prosecution," the Attorney-General said.

"The reality is that we know that we live in a age of unprecedented espionage, terrorism and foreign interference in Western democracies."

The Attorney-General will meet with US and UK counterparts to find out how best to prosecute people involved in foreign interference.

It comes as US authorities laid charges on 12 Russian intelligence officers based at GRU, the intelligence arm of the Russian military.

The accused are alleged to have hacked into the Clinton Presidential campaign, accessing documents and emails and releasing them.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten supported the law changes. Picture: 9NEWS (9news)

Some are also accused of stealing information about 500,000 US voters.

Authorities in Australia are monitoring those developments closely.

But the Attorney-General has a much broader concern about foreign interference.

"There's no reason to believe Australia is immune from it," he said.

Both of the new piece of legislation are backed by the Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

"We've supported the regulation of foreign intervention. We've supported the latest changes to our national security laws," he said.