A review by former Finance Department secretary Rosemary Huxtable, tabled by Foreign Minister Penny Wong earlier this week, has rightfully confirmed that the Foreign Arrangements Scheme remains a vital pillar of Australia’s national resilience strategy, subject to targeted refinement to reduce red tape and sharpen its focus on high-risk arrangements. It also backed in the central role of the foreign minister and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in ensuring that national security and sovereignty come before individual economic interests in dealings with foreign entities. The Foreign Arrangements Scheme was never a panacea, but rather one of the critical tools designed to disrupt those activities before they could take hold. It’s likely that the scheme has resulted in foreign states proposing fewer high-risk subnational agreements to begin with. It will continue to embed the national interest—including economic security—into decision-making, while prioritising high-risk arrangements, informed by foreign policy and intelligence assessments.