Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take no pleasure in the necessity of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014, but I do have immense pride in the ability of this government to act swiftly and comprehensively. Indeed, the mark of maturity is accepting that one is not always right, and by virtue of this debate the Abbott administration is demonstrating measure and maturity. The Australian people expect no more and accept no less, for the legitimacy of this government or any government flows from parties acknowledging and upholding the modern democratic social contract.

Our coalition government put a simple proposition to the people at the last election: elect the coalition government to office and get safety and security as watchwords of everything we do. This has been the case in every hour of every day since 7 September 2013. Our mandate—an overwhelming win at the polls—was built upon the specific platform of action called Our Plan. Our Plan enshrines and emphasises safety and security in its every promise. The budget repair measures introduced in May are the first part of building that strong, prosperous economy. As an aside, I am pleased to inform the house that WA small businesses are the most optimistic in the country, according to Westpac's Small Business Index with the Melbourne Institute. In WA 95 per cent of firms are small businesses, with 209,000 companies.

A strong, prosperous economy is a fundamental that underpins everything we do with respect to safety and security. Safety and security means stopping the boats. Safety and security means securing the future of Medicare. Safety and security means securing our economic success and standard of living by cutting red tape and building the roads for the 21st century. However, above all the aforementioned is rule No. 1: the prima facie deal maker and breaker of the modern state is to protect all the citizens of the state. When Hobbes wrote of a most basic social contract in Leviathan, his only ask of the ruler was to protect the lives of the ruled—not to improve them but just to keep them alive. Thankfully, our modern concepts of a state's obligations have evolved far beyond just protecting lives that were 'nasty, brutish and short'. From that time in 16th century England and right up through the centuries, every significant thinker has understood that the overriding obligation of government is to protect the citizenry. A government has no right to rule if it cannot do that most basic task.

And so it is with this bill. The swift action of the Abbott government demonstrates to all that national security is the important issue. National security rates above any partisan divide. For, in truth, an attack on one Australian is an attack on all Australians. In this nation of many threads, our rich and colourful patchwork is maintained and sustained by a sense of mutual obligation and mateship. I welcome the constructive comments and amendments to the counter-terrorism bill. In the first instance, I knew instinctively of the importance of sunset clauses in the legislation. At all times, when we legislate we must be cognisant of the legislation's immediate effect on civil liberties. But also we must consider what would happen in the worst-case scenario: what would happen if the new law were to be misused or manipulated? These considerations must be fair and reasonable, not hyperbolic or hysterical.

I would like to acknowledge the industry of the Attorney- General and also the reasonableness and vision of the man. By this I refer to the amendments put up in the other place by the Australian Greens and specifically Senator Penny Wright. Changing the time for detention powers from 12 hours to eight hours may not seem like a big deal, and it is not. The big deal is getting this bill passed and giving our law enforcement and security agencies the powers they have asked for. That is the crux of this debate. The thing pivots on giving the people who protect us the power they need to do just that. The amendments tabled by the Greens and subsequently incorporated into this bill specify Australia's obligations under the convention against torture.

I would remind my colleagues that we are at war with a murderous death cult. War of the kind being waged by non-state actors, such as has been seen in recent times, is not subject to international agreements, rules or protocols. I am not advocating a fire-with-fire or an eye-for-an-eye approach. That is neither moral nor sensible in the short or long term. I am simply invoking a consideration of the changing nature of the threat our nation faces. It is war, but not as we know it. It is asymmetric, it is brutal, and it is everywhere. So, as I welcome and applaud the Team Australia approach adopted by the Labor Party, I would also counsel that others heed what former US President Thomas Jefferson said:

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

When the current media interest dies away, we as legislators must still be vigilant. As I stated earlier, I see the incorporation of the final recommendation of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security as a sign of good and responsive government. This bill is critically important to protecting and supporting the operations of the ADF in current operations against IS in Iraq. This bill enables the intelligence services to collect information on Australians they suspect may be aiding and abetting the enemy. In practical terms, that is persons who are suspected of training with or attempting to travel to areas of conflict to assist IS militants.

This bill is exceptionally useful and urgent—the proposed enactment of a statutory basis for ASIS to provide assistance to the ADF in support of overseas military operations. Support of this nature has previously been provided only in an ad hoc way, without clear parliamentary authority. The amendments make provision for the contingency that the relevant ministers may be temporarily uncontactable when there is an urgent, previously unforeseen need to collect vital intelligence. Opportunities are being missed because agency heads do not have the power to exercise emergency ministerial authorisations, thus limiting control and search capability. The amendments will address this by enabling an agency head to grant a limited emergency authorisation subject to rigorous and extensive safeguards and oversight mechanisms. These authorisations are strictly limited to a maximum of 48 hours maximum and cannot be renewed. This is simply a recognition of the changing nature of the threat, but it is also reflective of our modern world. Things move quickly. A golden opportunity does not come twice. The safeguard is that the IGIS must also be notified as soon as practicable within three days. The amendments to the Criminal Code will further strengthen the control order regime and enhance the capacity of law enforcement agencies to protect the public from terrorist acts. The amendments will allow the AFP to request, and an issuing court to make, a control order in relation to those who enable and those who recruit. The expansion of the control order regime to cover such individuals will help disrupt terrorism at an earlier stage, keeping Australia and Australians safe and secure.

I am disappointed that Senator Leyonhjelm, in the other place, would use this bill to engage in political point-scoring along with Labor and the Greens. It is sad when someone with eminently sensible principles and beliefs can be led along the garden path by economic vandals and hollow, myopic careerists. The good senator engaged in histrionics when he claimed that there is an abrogation of ministerial responsibility in extending emergency ministerial authorisations to heads of intelligence agencies. In truth, the only abrogation of duty would be if the minister did not put in place such a provision. The minister is bound by oath to plan for every situation, and always for a worst-case scenario. The argument coming out of the other place, of the minister looking to pass the buck to the heads of agencies, is superficially a little bit attractive. It is perhaps a bit like a drag queen, or a pig with lipstick—or anything out of Labor. But distance is the thing; when one comes a little bit closer, the truth comes out. Any number or series of serious and unfortunate events could befall the Attorney-General when he is acting in his other role as the Minister for the Arts—think of poor old Lincoln! If the intelligence agencies had a major tip-off, what would the good senator want done then? Wait until the morning? Wait until the next phone call? Keep waiting? I know what I would prefer for myself and my children. I would want to know that, when I go to bed at night, there is always going to be someone watching and ready to act. That is the safety and security the coalition was elected to provide—and I am proud to be a part of that coalition. When Senator Leyonhjelm rises to speak against the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 in the other place and says he is 'sick of it', is he sick of safety and security? Is he sick of peace, prosperity and progress? I know what the Australian people are sick of—do-nothing windbags and their histrionics, hyperventilating about this or that, all the while preventing our security professionals from getting the tools they need. Confected indignation is not a plan.

What we are debating is a tripartite bill that has been requested by our intelligence services to enable them to do the job we have tasked them with. The three parts of the bill are control orders; emergency ministerial authorisations; and sharing and co-operation between ASIS and the ADF on military operations such as against IS in Iraq. Let there be no doubt about it, IS is bringing a new age of darkness. So crawl into the cave or stand up and get out as the blanket of death falls. The coalition will stand up.

It is always concerning and bewildering that so many on the Left are fundamentally suspicious of the motives of the intelligence and security services. Senator Wright, in the other place, invoked the PJCIS to give seeming credibility to outlandish accusations and hyperbole that somehow these technical amendments to facilitate greater active cooperation between ASIS and the ADF on a mission 'may lead to ASIS being involved in the targeted killings of Australian citizens'. This is a sick, dark fantasy that plays into the hands of the terrorist killers. Every decent, upstanding Australian knows this to be a fantasy beneath contempt.

This bill builds a solid foundation for increased hope, reward and opportunity. In the final analysis, our country would be wise to head the words of former US President Ronald Reagan:

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same.

In short, freedom is not free; someone, somewhere, always pays a price.

See this speech in context