Turnbull also backed Britain adopting a foreign influence register,similar to the one his government introduced as one way of trying to counter Chinese influence.
"Generally I think the approach we took was a good one,it was a world-leading set of legislation,"he said.
"If people want to influence the politics of Australia or Britain,on behalf of a foreign government or a foreign political party then all you're asking for them is just to put their hand up and say'yep,I'm here,that's what I'm doing.'
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"If their conduct is above board and reputable and so forth they shouldn't have any concerns about that,the thing that we're concerned about - the core of the problem - is the coercive and corrupt conduct."
Turnbull made the comments in a wide-ranging interview via Zoom withThe Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age in the wake of Britain's 5G Huawei ban - an outcome for which he personally lobbied.
Turnbull welcomed the backflip,announced just seven months after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would allow Huawei to supply Britain's 5G networks,but criticised the process,saying the public debate,which culminated in Tory backbenchers threatening a revolt on the floor of the Commons could have been avoided if the UK had adopted Australia's approach.
Turnbull said his government's world-leading decision to announce a ban after internal consultation in a statement without even mentioning Huawei by name was met with zero controversy.
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But Huawei Australia hit back,saying the ban only escaped media attention because it was issued in the same week the Liberal Party was ousting the former prime minister from the top job.
Chief corporate affairs officer Jeremy Mitchell said Turnbull's comments were absurd because the UK had been more open about its decision-making process than Australia.
"Mr Turnbull claims that following his decision on Huawei that the'controversy evaporated pretty quickly'- conveniently omitting to mention that this was because the country was going through the turmoil of him being removed from office by his own colleague when he imposed the ban,"Mitchell said.
"We can assure him that the controversy has not evaporated quickly either for the hundreds of Huawei Australia employees that have lost their jobs as a result of his government’s 5G ban or indeed the thousands of contractor employees that have lost business from Huawei.
"In addition,the UK government has been upfront with the reality that the UK 5G ban will cost Britons at least £2 billion and delay 5G rollout by up to three years – something Mr Turnbull never disclosed to Australians."