The legislation making a series of changes to Australia’s Foreign Arrangements Scheme came into law last week, after passing both Houses of Parliament on 20 August.
The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Act 2026 broadens the existing legislation in a number of areas. Among the changes are a new national interest test, revised rules for determining whether foreign universities have institutional autonomy, greater powers for the Foreign Minister to impose conditions on arrangements, and the extension of the Scheme to overseas campuses of Australian universities.
A last-minute Senate amendment also added new requirements for Australian universities to identify research projects involving researchers employed or engaged by foreign entities. Universities must assess whether those projects could adversely affect Australia’s national interest or be inconsistent with foreign policy, and manage any risks identified.
The amendment followed concerns raised by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security that researcher-to-researcher arrangements can fall outside the Foreign Arrangements Scheme where the employing university is not itself a party to the arrangement.
The Committee said such arrangements can carry “material risk” and that further measures to strengthen transparency and accountability should be explored.
The change comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong earlier this month used her powers under the existing legislation to require the Australian National University to terminate its teaching partnership agreement with Shandong University. At around the same time, Wong also required The University of Queensland to terminate a research collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences involving research into pain relief using compounds derived from Australian native plants.
As previously reported by The Koala (TKN 030826), submissions to the parliamentary inquiry into the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Bill 2026 were largely supportive of the Bill.
