Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank my colleagues, particularly the member for Bass, for proposing the motion and allowing me to second it. I would like to thank those members who have spoken to date in support of the motion. I do not want to appear to be countercultural, but I want to make some comments about context, if I may.

Australia is remarkable country. The member for Bass knows very well that we have the third highest proportion of overseas-born people in our community. I tell you that they are from all four corners of the earth, of every faith, every culture, every race. I tell you too that, if cultural diversity were a problem, we would have the most significant problems in the world; but I have to say we do not. I make this point because this motion is about terrorism and about people who have adopted terrorist means to pursue totally unacceptable objectives. But we ought not to allow ourselves to demonise whole communities because of the actions of individuals. These measures are about terrorism. To put it into context: what sort of numbers are we talking about? The government says 250 Australians, some very young, have become ensnared in the evil ideology of the Daesh cult; and ASIO currently has 400 priority counter-terrorism investigations.

We know that 30 Australians travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistani between 1990 and 2010 to train in extremist camps or to fight with extremists. Twenty-five of these individuals returned; 19 of them engaged in activities of concern to security after their return to Australia; and eight was subsequently convicted of terrorism related offences. Why do I mention this? I mention it because these are the sorts of numbers that we are in fact talking about. I do not want these measures to be demonising any part of our community other than terrorists.

The motion that we are discussing outlines what is being done, and I want to say that all of that is essential. I have had the opportunity of being the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, proudly supporting our society and our immigration programs; and I have been the Attorney-General of Australia—I am very conscious of the need for our society to be focused on accepting people of different faiths, different religions, and different cultures, while recognising that it is a two-way street. We accept you with your differences but we ask you, when you become part of our society, to accept that there are some rules that are for us all, to protect us all, and to protect the nature of our society. That is the rule of law. You have a chance to vote in elections, but there is an expectation that you will adhere to the rule of law.

It is in that context that I think it is very important that people understand why, and the member for Holt brought this out in terms of what he is experiencing in his electorate. It is because the safety of all Australians is involved. Terrorism—where you think you can go out and behead people; you can deprive them of their lives to pursue a particular objective—has no place in our society. People expect that the government is going to take every reasonable measure that it can to contain that threat. That is why supporting this motion is of such importance. But I emphasise again that we cannot afford to marginalise those people who would not be part of this because they feel that in some way we are unwelcoming. We need to remain a welcoming society for those who accept the commitments that Australian citizenship offers, and that includes the commitment to gender equity, the commitment to English as the national language, and the commitment to the rule of law—the measures set out in the National agenda for a multicultural Australia, which we have adopted now over generations. (Time expired)

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