ABC News Australia
Chinese state-owned enterprises are using Australian law firms to advise on takeovers of critical local infrastructure and minerals projects according to a new report that exposes potential conflicts with other sensitive work the same companies complete at home.
Key points:
- Some Australian law firms have been simultaneously working on sensitive projects for the Australian government and Chinese state-owned enterprises
- The report claims firms are going beyond providing legal advice, including advocating for state projects
- The opposition says Australia’s foreign influence laws need urgent reform
The research also warns confidential client files held here could be accessed by authorities in Beijing, and controversially calls for Australia’s Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS) to be adjusted to remove exemptions for “legal advice or representation”.
“Law firms operating in Australia acting for PRC [People’s Republic of China] entities simultaneously fulfil engagements for Australian government entities, including those responsible for national security and foreign policy,” the report stated.
“PRC state-owned entities are engaging Australia’s law firms as a legitimate means to achieving commercial and economic outcomes that advance PRC strategic and political interests, risking prejudice to Australia’s national security without transparency.”
One of the report’s authors, Canberra-based cyber security expert Robert Potter, said some of the larger law firms they studied are completing sensitive Defence Department work while at the same time advising PRC-controlled companies.
Mr Potter warned firms were advising on things “as sensitive as government platform procurement”, while using the same email servers to handle Chinese state-owned customers, without “any of what we would expect in terms of technical separation of their infrastructure”.
“We’ve looked at the law firms in terms of their level of potential risk for exposing government data from Australia externally through what we can see as less than optimal cyber security practices on their systems,” he said.
Some firms promoting ‘Belt and Road’ initiatives
Read full report
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-03/beijing-owned-businesses-using-australian-law-firms/102925108
