Mr Garnaut also claimed the Confucius Institute, which provides Chinese language and cultural programs at several Australian universities, was involved in propaganda activities and connected to the CCP’s opaque lobbying and influence operations agency, the United Front Work Department. The institute's network could be used to influence decision making at universities, Mr Garnaut said. “[But] at least we know about them and we are talking about them,” he said. “We see other research institutes performing similar functions but without the attention.” Mr Garnaut, a former China correspondent for Fairfax Media, was Mr Turnbull’s China specialist in 2016 before shifting to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to work on China-related policy. He is now a private consultant, and it's understood he has been assisting western government agencies, including in the US, to deal with influence operations. Chinese President Xi Jinping. Credit:AP

Mr Garnaut did not offer evidence to corroborate his claims, although he recently detailed public examples of possible CCP influence operations, including former senator Sam Dastyari’s controversial relationship with Chinese donors, in an article for the influential Foreign Affairs magazine. Loading Loading Loading Mr Garnaut’s comments may be viewed with scepticism or as a partisan push for Mr Turnbull’s sweeping counter foreign interference reforms by those who have critiqued the Prime Minister's proposals as unnecessary and overzealous.

Former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd and former Coalition trade minister Andrew Robb have featured among the prominent critics of the federal government’s approach, saying it risks fuelling racism or needlessly undermining Australia's relationship with Beijing. Mr Garnaut said a “surgical response” to detect, deter and prosecute the CCP's covert espionage and foreign interference activities was vital. He called for far greater accountability to be applied to China’s ambitious Belt and Road global infrastructure project, as well as to the “grey” or softer efforts by the CCP to exert influence in the West. These efforts include funding research projects and providing junkets for academics and journalists. “Sunshine will cure a lot of the harm we are worried about,” he said. Mr Garnaut’s testimony in Washington comes just days after ASIO's Director General Duncan Lewis told an Australian parliamentary committee that foreign intelligence services were targeting Australia on a scale not seen since the Cold War. He said that traditional forms of "Le Carre" spying were now supplemented with subtler influence and interference operations. In making the case for the Turnbull government’s proposed reforms, Mr Lewis said the existing legislative regime limited ASIO’s ability to combat contemporary espionage and foreign interference threats.

While not naming any countries involved in hostile clandestine activities in Australia, Mr Lewis said Australia was vulnerable to the sort of activities recently attributed to Russia. British authorities continue to probe Russia’s links to the attempted murder of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, while Russia is also being probed in the US for interfering in the 2016 election. Mr Lewis provided several examples of cases that ASIO was investigating, including an Australian academic encouraged to gather classified information and a businessman who targeted a Commonwealth official on behalf of a foreign agency. Mr Lewis also warned that Australian journalists were vulnerable to recruitment by foreign intelligence services. Human rights and media organisations have attacked the proposed laws, arguing they could lead to journalists facing criminal charges despite acting responsibly and in the public interest. The government has already committed to reforming part of the legislation to address concerns, but senior Labor figures remain sceptical about the reforms. In his comments before the US committee, Mr Garnaut said the CCP had exerted significant control of Australia’s Chinese language media and had sought to encourage the work of friendly reporters while isolating those deemed hostile. The Armed Service Committee hearing dealt with the foreign interference activities of both Russia and China, with Mr Garnaut saying that the threat posed by Beijing had been underestimated. Beijing's influence operations in the West were "strategic and patient," albeit subject to a "massive intensification" under President Xi Jinping. In contrast, Russia's interference operations often involved "focused, sharp strikes."

Mr Garnaut's expertise on the CCP is likely to face intense scrutiny later his year. He is the subject of a law suit by a Chinese-born Australian billionaire over a report Mr Garnaut published in 2015 and which detailed allegations aired in a US court involving the man’s links to a bribery scheme and links to Australian politicians. The billionaire, who denies involvement in any impropriety, was also the subject of a high profile investigation by the ABC’s Four Corners program and Fairfax Media in 2017. The reports, which are also the subject of litigation, revealed he was one of two wealthy political donors who were the subject of warnings issued to Labor and the coalition by ASIO. The warnings canvassed the donors' ties to the CCP, although stressed their donations were not unlawful.