Australia offers migrants unlimited English lessons to counteract 'unprecedented' foreign influence

The Australian government will provide free unlimited English classes to migrants and work to encourage “Australian values” as part of a move to combat what it calls an “unprecedented” level of foreign interference in the country.

While officials did not name which state or states had sparked the counter-measures, Australian authorities have previously made clear they are concerned by the activities of Chinese government bodies in the country.

On Friday Alan Tudge, the immigration minister, said members of Australia’s “diverse communities” have been “both victims of interference and used as vectors to engage in foreign interference”.

“Despite now being proud Australians, some communities are still seen by their former home countries as 'their diaspora' - to be harassed or exploited to further the national cause,” he said in a speech to the National Press Club.  Australia is home to a significant population of people of Chinese descent.

The 2016 census found 1.2 million Australians are of Chinese ancestry, more than half a million of whom were born in China. Mr Tudge said foreign interference was at an “unprecedented high” in Australia.

“Foreign actors have multiple objectives, but one is to seek to grow division in our society by pushing people away from Australia and placing their loyalties elsewhere. They seek to sow distrust in government and institutions,” he said.

The Australian Government will overhaul a A$1 billion (£550million) language programme and citizenship test.

Sino-Australian relations have been increasingly strained this year.

On Wednesday Wang Xining, the deputy head of mission of China’s embassy in Australia, said that Australia’s push for an inquiry into the origin and spread of Covid-19 had been “shocking” and had hurt China’s feelings.

He dismissed the suggestion the Chinese government was trying to interfere in Australia’s internal affairs or heavily influence Australian society.

“We’re not asking Hungry Jacks [an Australian burger chain] to sell Chinese dumplings,” he added.

In May it was revealed Chinese authorities were considering targeting more Australian exports including wine and dairy, having already barred meat imports from four Australian slaughterhouses for “technical” reasons and applied tariffs of more than 80 per cent on Australian barley.

In November last year, Wang Liqiang, a Chinese defector, sought asylum in Australia declaring that he had worked as a spy in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

At the time, Asia-Pacific expert Professor Mark Beeson told The Telegraph that if the evidence supporting Mr Wang's claims “is compelling and credible... it would be difficult for the Australian government not to give him asylum”.

Early that same month, it was revealed that Australia's peak Chinese student body reports to and is partly funded by the Chinese embassy.

Founding documents show the mission of the CSSA in Canberra is to “assist the embassy” to help and serve Chinese students and the executive board must “communicate with the embassy… regularly”.

Also in November 2019, Australian Government MPs Andrew Hastie and Senator James Paterson were banned from a planned trip to China in response to their criticism of China's human rights record.

In October, the Chinese government responded angrily to claims by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton that China was responsible for interference in Australian universities, as well as cyber hacks and theft of intellectual property.

In September it had been revealed that Government MP Gladys Liu had been a member of two associations with strong links to the Chinese government.