Back in December Malcolm Turnbull announced an overhaul of the current espionage and intelligence laws after growing concerns of the increased political influence by foreign countries. Australian politicians have been warned not to accept donations from businessmen linked to the Chinese Communist Party but after many instances of foreign influences in many scandals found by Australia’s intelligence agencies. Turnbull insists that the expansion of these laws is not directly aimed towards China but, instead Turnbull claims the need for this revision is to “strengthen our democracy.” Charities, media companies, lawyers and universities have raised concerns over these new laws since foreign donations are accepted by some of these groups and the new definition of espionage will criminalise journalists for the first time. 2ser was joined by Dr Ian Cook from Murdoch University to discuss more about this topic.