All academic staff are required to disclose any registrable activities which fall under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act 2018 (Cth).

 

2. Foreign influence transparency

UQ has a responsibility to comply with the FITSA. The University must ensure that academic staff do not:

  • undertake registrable activities while not being registered
  • fail to fulfil responsibilities (e.g. reporting and disclosure obligations)
  • provide false or misleading information or documents in relation to registration
  • destroy records in connection with the FITSA.

These are considered offences which can apply to individuals as well as body corporates.

The foreign influence decision tree is a quick guide to help you identify and disclose (potential) registrable activities at UQ:

View the foreign influence decision tree (PDF, 91.5 KB)

Foreign principal can be a foreign government, foreign political organisation, foreign government related individual, or foreign government related entity.

Registrable activity can be parliamentary lobbying, general political lobbying, a communications activity, a disbursement activity, activities performed by a staff member who is a former cabinet minister; and/or activities performed by a staff member who is a recent designated position holder where the person contributes previous experience, knowledge, skills or contacts.

The purpose of the activity is to influence any one or more of the following Australian federal government and political processes (or influence the public in relation to those matters).

Capturing normal academic activities

Most activities undertaken by UQ staff won't be captured by the FITSA. This is because the UQ's usual academic and research activity is not conducted on behalf of foreign governments for the sole, primary or a substantial purpose of influencing Australia’s federal political or government processes.

However, it is important to be aware of and manage any risks of foreign influence that might arise while conducting academic and research activities and ensure compliance with the FITSA.

Research grant applications to Commonwealth agencies with a foreign Chief Investigator (CI) do not need to be captured under UQ's foreign influence disclosure.

Standard academic publications (where there is no primary or substantial purpose to influence a political or government decision or process) do not need to be captured under UQ's Foreign Influence Disclosure.

Need advice?

Staff may require more information or assistance in identifying potentially registrable activities under the FITSA.

    If you are unsure how to identify, disclose or manage any potentially registrable activities, you can talk to:

    • Your supervisor or manager

    For Conflicts of Interest (COI):

    For queries about conflict of interest related to research:

    For policy:

    For legislation:

    For general queries regarding the disclosure and management of interests, contact:

     

    Disclosure and management of interests - who needs to register?

    UQ has created an integrated framework regarding the disclosure and management of interests, which simplifies and clarifies policies and procedures to ensure ethical and legal compliance.        

    All fixed-term and continuing staff members are required to complete the Conflict of Interest Register. Casual, unpaid and honorary staff who have a conflict of interest to declare are required to complete the Conflict of Interest form (PDF, 1.42 MB) and submit to your supervisor in your organisational unit. Note that this form is different to the Conflict of Interest Register.

    All professional staff (HEW 8 level and above) are required to complete the Secondary Employment Register.

    All academic staff (continuing and fixed-term contracts of 12 months or longer; conjoint appointments where UQ is the lead employer) are required to complete the:

    These registers must be completed annually, even if there is no item to disclose, and when circumstances change.