Australia's Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025

Administered by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Legislation au F2025L01463 Rules Not in force Legislative Instrument

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AUSTRALIA’S fOREIGN RELATIONS (sTATE AND tERRITORY ARRANGEMENTS) amendment RULES 2025

 

 

Explanatory Statement

 

 


AUSTRALIA’S fOREIGN RELATIONS (sTATE AND tERRITORY ARRANGEMENTS) amendment RULES 2025

 

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

 

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Foreign Affairs

 

Introduction

 

The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020 (the Foreign Relations Act) allows the Minister to assess whether arrangements between State/Territory entities and foreign entities are consistent with Australia’s foreign policy and do not adversely affect Australia’s foreign relations.

 

Section 54 of the Foreign Relations Act allows the Minister to make rules prescribing matters required or permitted by the Foreign Relations Act to be prescribed by the rules, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Foreign Relations Act.

 

The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020 (the Rules) prescribe:

  1.        Certain kinds of foreign arrangements to be exempt arrangements  
  2.       Entities prescribed to be foreign entities 
  3.        Information to be included in notices to the Minister about negotiating core foreign arrangements 
  4.       Information to be included in notices to the Minister about entering core and non-core foreign arrangements  
  5.        Information to be included on the Public Register 
  6.         Transitional requirements for notification of certain foreign arrangements that were entered into before the commencement of the Foreign Relations Act (pre-existing arrangements).
     

Section 9 of the Rules also provides that they self-repeal on 10 December 2025. The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025 (the Amendment Rules) extend the operation of the Rules for 12 months.

 

A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights (the Statement) has been completed in accordance with the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.  The overall assessment is that the Rules are compatible with human rights. A copy of the Statement is at Attachment A.

 

Details of the Amendment Rules are set out in Attachment B.

 

Regulatory impact analysis

 

The Office of Impact Analysis (OIA) has been consulted in relation to the Rules.  No Impact Analysis is required (OIA25-10439). 

 

Consultation before making

 

The department is currently progressing reforms to the Foreign Relations Act consistent with the Government response to the Review of the Foreign Arrangements Scheme Final Report. Deferring the self-repeal by 12 months will allow sufficient time to implement the recommendations of the independent review and avoid the need to remake the Rules in their current form for a short period of time before the Rules are remade with amendments. 

 

Given the minor regulatory impact of the Rules, State/Territory entities were not consulted on the Rules.

 

More information

 

The Foreign Relations Act specifies no conditions that need to be satisfied before the power to make the Amendment Rules may be exercised. 

 

The Amendment Rules are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.

 

The Amendment Rules commence on the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislation.

 

 


 

ATTACHMENT A

 

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025

 

This disallowable legislative instrument, the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025 (the Legislative Instrument), is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (the Human Rights Act).

 

Overview of the Legislative Instrument

 

The Legislative Instrument extends the operation of the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020 (the Rules) by deferring the operation of the self-repeal provision in section 9 of the Rules by 12 months from 10 December 2025 to 10 December 2026.

 

Human rights implications

 

The deferral of the self-repeal provision extends the operation of the Rules but does not change or affect the rights engaged under those Rules.

 

The Rules engage certain rights and freedoms declared by international instruments set out in section 3 of the Human Rights Act.

 

Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) prohibits unlawful or arbitrary interferences with a person’s privacy, family, home and correspondence. Any interference with this right must be for a reason consistent with the relevant Convention and reasonable in the particular circumstances, in order to avoid being ‘arbitrary’.

 

The Rules contain provisions that require the possible disclosure of personal information which engage the prohibition on arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy. They do this by prescribing information that must be included in notices to the Minister from State/Territory entities when negotiating or entering foreign arrangements.

 

To the extent that the Rules engage the right to privacy, any limitation on that right is permissible as it is in pursuit of a legitimate objective, is rationally connected to the objective, and is a proportionate way of achieving that objective.

 

The prescribed information to be notified is clearly set out in the Rules and is essential to the functioning and enforcement of the scheme established by the Act. The Minister is required to assess whether proposed arrangements would adversely affect Australia’s foreign relations or are inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy. In order to do so, the Minister requires information about the nature of the arrangement and the parties to it.

 

Accordingly, the Rules are compatible with human rights because, to the extent that they may limit privacy rights, those limitations are reasonable, necessary and proportionate.

 

Conclusion

 

The Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights Act, as it does not raise any human rights issues, and ensures that any proposal to make substantive amendments will be subject to parliamentary oversight and scrutiny.

 

Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025

 

Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs


ATTACHMENT B

 

DETAILS OF THE AUSTRALIA’S fOREIGN RELATIONS (sTATE AND tERRITORY ARRANGEMENTS) amendment RULES 2025

Section 1

 

Section 1 provides that the name of the Rules is Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025 (the Amendment Rules).

 

Section 2

 

Section 2 provides that the Amendment Rules commence on the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislation.

 

Section 3

 

Section 3 states that the authority for making the Amendment Rules is taken from the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020.

 

Section 4

 

Section 4 gives effect to the amendments to the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020 (the Rules) as described in the Schedule.

 

Schedule 1

 

Clause 1

 

This clause amends section 9 of the Rules to extend the self-repeal provision from 10 December 2025 to 10 December 2026.

 

Section 9 of the Rules was introduced following a recommendation of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation to ensure appropriate parliamentary scrutiny of the Rules after the completion of the review of the Act as required under section 63A of the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020 (the Foreign Relations Act).

 

Ms Rosemary Huxtable AO PSM commenced an independent review of the Foreign Relations Act in June 2024. Her report, along with the Government response, was tabled on 1 September 2025. Amendments to both the Foreign Relations Act and the Rules are required to implement certain recommendations of the independent review.

 

Extending the self-repeal date in the Rules to 1 December 2026 will enable the current rules to remain in place until the Foreign Relations Act is amended in 2026, at which time amendments to the Act and the Rules will be implemented simultaneously.

 

Overview

The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025 were enacted to address the need for a temporary extension of the self-repeal date for the existing rules under the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020. This extension was introduced to accommodate the timeline for implementing recommendations from an independent review of the Foreign Relations Act. The rules were made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs under the authority granted by Section 54 of the Foreign Relations Act. The primary objective of these Amendment Rules is to ensure that the current regulatory framework remains in effect until the anticipated amendments to the Act are enacted, thereby avoiding any disruption in the oversight and management of arrangements between State/Territory entities and foreign entities. This approach facilitates a smooth transition to the new legislative and regulatory framework, ensuring continuity and compliance with Australia’s foreign policy objectives.

Scope and Application

The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025 apply to the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020, which themselves pertain to the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020. The Act and its associated rules concern the assessment of arrangements between State/Territory entities and foreign entities to ensure they are consistent with Australia’s foreign policy and do not adversely affect its foreign relations. The Amendment Rules specifically defer the self-repeal provision of the Rules from 10 December 2025 to 10 December 2026. This extension provides additional time for the implementation of recommendations from the independent review of the Foreign Relations Act, thereby avoiding the need to remake the Rules in their current form for a short period before the new rules are enacted. There are no stated exclusions or exemptions within these Amendment Rules, and the rules apply across the Commonwealth of Australia, encompassing all State and Territory entities entering into foreign arrangements. Any further detail or regulation pertaining to the scope of application or the conduct covered by the Act and Rules may be specified in subordinate instruments, although the Amendment Rules themselves do not expand on this aspect.

Key Provisions

The Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Amendment Rules 2025 amend the existing Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Rules 2020. The primary change is an extension of the self-repeal provision (section 9) in the Rules from 10 December 2025 to 10 December 2026. This means the Rules will now remain in effect for an additional year to allow for the implementation of recommended reforms from an independent review of the Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act 2020 (section 4). The Rules, as amended, will be repealed in their entirety on 10 December 2026. The Amendment Rules impose obligations on State and Territory entities to notify the Minister for Foreign Affairs of certain foreign arrangements. Specifically, they must provide detailed information about any core foreign arrangements they are negotiating or entering into, including the nature of the arrangement and the parties involved (Rule 4). This information is essential for the Minister to assess whether the arrangements are consistent with Australia’s foreign policy and do not adversely affect Australia’s foreign relations. Additionally, the Rules require the inclusion of certain information in notices about pre-existing foreign arrangements that were entered into before the commencement of the Foreign Relations Act (Rule 5). Any breach of the obligations imposed by the Amendment Rules could result in civil or criminal consequences. While the Amendment Rules themselves do not explicitly state penalties for non-compliance, breaches of the underlying Foreign Relations Act could lead to enforcement actions. The Act provides for civil penalties for non-compliance, including fines and, in severe cases, imprisonment. The precise penalties would depend on the nature and extent of the breach, as well as any associated guidelines or interpretations by relevant authorities. The Amendment Rules also address the compatibility of the Rules with human rights, as assessed in the Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights (Attachment A). The Rules engage certain rights, such as the right to privacy under Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, the Statement concludes that any limitations on these rights are reasonable, necessary, and proportionate, given that the prescribed information is essential for the enforcement of the Act. The Rules ensure that any proposed amendments will be subject to parliamentary oversight and scrutiny, thereby maintaining compatibility with human rights standards.

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Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 26 August 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au.