05:14

In the lower house the shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has fiercely criticised the foreign influence register because of its impact on charities.

The bill creates a new requirement for entities that seek to influence public policy on behalf of foreign principals to disclose this on a public register but has been subject to a wide backlash due to fears even benign contributions to public debate will be captured.

Dreyfus:



Our commitment is to bipartisanship on national security matters but that does not extend to giving the government a blank cheque on what it wants ... What this bill does is increase red tape for the charities sector. The effect of extraordinarily expansive definitions in the scheme means the bill will capture Australian charities whose conduct and activities are entirely benign and completely of benefit to our nation. This will be imposed despite the fact these charities are all already closely regulated by Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.



Dreyfus said he hoped this was merely a case of “sloppy drafting” but warned the government if this was intentional it was “truly shameful”. He said:



We in the Labor party think that giving in to an assault on civil society is an abdication of our responsibility to protect and nurture the crucial role Australian civil society has in creating a fair and equal nation.

The first speech on the matter of public importance was from Labor’s charities spokesman, Andrew Leigh, who spoke against the increase in red tape for charities in the Electoral Funding and Disclosure bill.

“Banning donations to political parties should not include curtailing free speech,” he said, warning the bill conflates political campaigning by parties and issues advocacy by charities.

He warned religious charities have said under the proposed changes the collection plate could not be handed around in church without a warning that foreigners cannot donate.