Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to speak after my friend and colleague, the member for La Trobe. I think he makes some very, very strong points that I certainly concur with in his speech. I also rise today to speak in support of the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014. This is an important piece of legislation with bipartisan support, responding to the heightened security threat here in Australia and around the world.

The British Prime Minister, the Right Honourable David Cameron MP, made clear in his recent address to our parliament that this security threat is a global concern. With the proposals he announced here, he highlighted that we are not alone in having to put in place measures to protect our freedoms from those who choose the path of terrorism.

With the growth in the recruitment techniques of terrorist groups such as ISIL, we are seeing many Australian citizens go and fight in both Iraq and Syria. They are fighting for terrorist groups that are virulently opposed to our democratic and free way of life. These people in these groups execute people. They have a policy of torture, rape and murder to achieve their ends, and they present a real and present danger to those of us back home because they prepare to bring this virulent extremism inside our national borders.

Currently, there are approximately 70 Australians who are fighting with terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, with over 100 more Australians providing support by way of financing operations and facilitating travel. The return of such people represents a threat to our safety.

There is evidence that many Australians who trained with al-Qaeda or affiliates in Afghanistan or Pakistan in the 1990s and 2000s were involved with terrorism-related activities on their return, with ASIO conducting investigations into 30 Australians who travelled to Afghanistan and/or Pakistan between 1990 and 2010 to train at extremist camps and/or fight with extremists. Eight of these Australians were later convicted of terrorism-related offences with five still serving prison sentences.

For these individuals, their behaviour after their return to Australia emerged over an extended period—in some cases it was not seen until more than five years after their return. This demonstrates the need for our security and law enforcement agencies to consider those involved in the Syria-Iraq conflict as a serious and long-term problem.

In this current climate, we cannot rely on existing legislation to be able to tackle the terrorist threat posed by ISIL and its ilk. This bill complements the government's wider response to tackling this heightened security threat. Together with the National Security Legislation Amendment Act and the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Act, this bill will make Australia safer. It will put the government and its agencies in a stronger position to defeat terrorists.

This bill will enhance the ability of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to take timely action in relation to Australians who are suspected of being involved in terrorist-related activity. This bill takes into consideration the recommendations made in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security's advisory report, which was tabled last month after the committee held many public and private hearings with evidence presented from a range of key stakeholders, including security agencies, a number of civil liberties groups, members of the legal profession and members of the community. This report included 16 unanimous recommendations, which have all been accepted by the government.

The measures in the bill also respond directly to recommendations made in independent reviews of Australia's national security legislation over the last few years. The amendments included in this bill address three key areas: enhancing the control order regime to allow the Australian Federal Police to seek control orders in relation to a broader range of individuals of security concern and to streamline the application process; facilitating the Australian Secret Intelligence Service supporting and cooperating with the Australian Defence Force on military operations; and enhancing the arrangements for the provision of emergency ministerial authorisations to intelligence agencies to undertake activities in performance of their statutory functions.

Schedule 1 will amend the Criminal Code Act 1995 to enable the expansion of the control order regime. Currently, a control order is only able to be made to protect the public from a terrorist act. This will also enable a control order to be issued by the Australian Federal Police to prevent the provision of support for, or facilitation of, a terrorist act This takes into account the recognition that terrorists often do not act alone but are part of a wider team planning an attack. These amendments will allow control orders to more easily be issued to interrupt the chance of terrorist attacks.

This will also allow for a control order to be issued which will prevent the provision of support for or engagement in a hostile activity in a foreign country. In this, we will hopefully be able to reduce the impact of Australian citizens who choose to go and fight in foreign countries.

Schedule 1 will also allow the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to review and report on amendments to terrorist organisation regulations to add aliases or remove former names of organisations. These important changes were identified as being required following the counter-terrorism operations that occurred across Australia during September and October of this year. While it is right to put in place tighter rules on terrorist activity, we also do not want to lose our wider freedoms and so it is also right to have the Office of the National Security Legislation Monitor act as an independent oversight of national security legislation.

Schedule 2 of the bill will amend the Intelligence Services Act 2001. The amendments will widen the functions of ASIS to explicitly include providing assistance to the Australian Defence Force. The close relationship between ASIS and the ADF has been active for many years. Indeed, Mr Nick Warner, Director-General of ASIS, stated in 2012:

Starting with the Iraq war, support for the Australian Defence Force in military combat operations has become an important task for ASIS.

And further:

ASIS reporting has been instrumental in saving the lives of Australian soldiers and … enabling operations conducted by Australian Special Forces.

The ASIS personnel deployed with the ADF have developed strong bonds, and it’s difficult to see a situation in the future where the ADF would deploy without ASIS alongside.

Formalising this close relationship in legislation therefore makes clear sense to help protect our service men and women, who defend our freedoms.

Schedule 2 will also expand provision for emergency authorisations to ASIS, the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation. In addition, schedule 2 will allow for ministerial authorisation to be given for ASIS to undertake activities in relation to citizens in certain circumstances. This will help to facilitate the timely performance by ASIS to support the fight against terrorism.

I can understand the concerns that some communities may have had about how a 'class of persons' would be defined. However, the amendment, as agreed to in the Senate, has overcome this concern. As the Attorney-General made clear, these amendments will explain that a 'class of person' is defined solely by reference to their involvement or likely involvement in terrorism activities. They would not be defined in terms of religious, political or ideological orientation, ethnicity or mere presence in a particular location.

In conclusion, we are facing an existential threat to our freedoms. This threat from ISL and its supporters is growing, as we have seen in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. However, even though we may be geographically isolated in Australia, we are not isolated from this threat. We have citizens who choose to go and fight with ISIL and who may return or, as security operations have shown, actually live in our cities, with a plot and a plan to support this terrorist activity. I therefore welcome this bill for two reasons.

Firstly, the legislative changes are part of the government's comprehensive response to the heightened security threat. The bill provides clear powers to respond to the threat posed by Australians participating in foreign conflicts or training with extremist groups.

Secondly, the bill improves the ability of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to respond to these threats, both overseas and at home.

I therefore urge the House to support this bill as an important element in safeguarding the safety of all Australians, whilst protecting fundamental freedoms that we hold dear, as outlined in the Parliamentary Joint Committee's report. The report is an excellent one. I commend it and this bill to the House.

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