Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

It started on the plane last Sunday night as we were making our way to Paris to represent Australia at the International Energy Agency meeting just two days after the tragic events in Paris on the Friday before. It had been decided that the meeting of the International Energy Agency would go ahead because to cancel it out of fear would represent another small victory for the terrorists who seek to destroy our way of life. As I made my way, on that plane, from Melbourne to Paris, I looked at the empty seats around me, which are not a common scene on a plane into a European capital city such as Paris. Once we got off the plane, there was an eerie silence in the terminal. We went to get our baggage, and I asked the young man who was escorting us, a Frenchman, what he thought of what had just transpired. He said that he was horrified and he himself was a second generation Muslim in France.

We made our way to the hotel. We were briefed by security services about potential threats and what to do in the event that there is shooting, a bomb or another attack. We debated, as a group: 'Do we go outside for a walk? Should we break into smaller groups? Is it too dangerous? Should we not go at all?' I asked myself, 'How did it come to this? Paris—a city of 10 million people, the city of lights known throughout the world for its culture, its arts, its monuments and its museums—brought to its knees by these tragic terrorist killings.'

We did go for a walk down the Champs-Elysees, where there was a guard outside every cafe and every shop. The roads were not nearly as busy as they would normally be. You could tell that everybody looked at each other with a hint of suspicion and a hint of fear. I have to say that that is how I felt as I made that walk. We made the walk around the Champs-Elysees and, on the way back to the hotel, we finished off at the Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon's monument to France's vainglorious past. The irony was not lost on me or the travelling party that here was a monument testament to France's strength throughout the world, and here we were in Paris at the lowest point of the Fifth Republic. Not since Vichy France, when the Nazi's controlled Paris during the Second World War, have we seen such bloodshed and loss of innocent life.

Later that afternoon, I accompanied Ambassador Stephen Brady to the memorial outside the Bataclan concert hall. I have to say, it was more than sobering. It was shocking, because outside the concert hall there were clearly police, ambulance services and other emergency services still going about their gruesome task. Along the fence line there were thousands of candles, hundreds of flags, thousands of messages and so many photos of people who had lost their lives. One message will stick with me forever. It said, 'Rock kills you,' and it had a symbol of the peace sign with the Eiffel Tower in the middle. Rock kills you. These were young people—more than 120—who lost their lives. They had simply gone out to a concert on a normal Friday night. There was another message—'Best wishes from Bingara Australia, nous sommes avec vous'—a message from an Australian saying that they are standing with their French brothers and sisters at this time.

All Australians feel deeply about what has happened and cannot help but be moved by the tragedy that has befallen France because, but for the grace of God, it could have been us. We have lost more than 100 Australians in terrorist attacks since September 2001. The Bali bombings changed our nation forever. There were the Marriott Hotel bombings in Indonesia, including at the Marriott Hotel. We have seen the Mumbai attacks. We know about the London bus bombings and the Madrid train bombings. In Paris at the beginning of this year we saw the tragic Charlie Hebdo attacks and the attacks within the kosher supermarket. There have been attacks through Brussels, Amsterdam and every other major European capital.

In Australia, but for the incredible work of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, I have no doubt we would have faced an outcome as horrible as we have seen throughout Europe. Let us be under no illusions about the threat from Islamic extremism here in Australia. I accept that Islam is not the problem, but we have to accept that within Islam there is an extremist ideology that is turning young men and women toward a violent way.

There are 110 Australians fighting in Syria and Iraq. More than 40 Australians have already lost their lives, including a number of suicide bombers. There are 190 Australians here in Australia providing support to those over in Syria and Iraq—whether it is recruitment or financing. More than 140 passports of Australians have been cancelled, and ASIO and the AFP tell us that they have more than 400 high-profile terrorist investigations under way. That should alarm everybody in this place, because we have seen what one man with a gun and a black flag can do in Sydney, with the Lindt cafe. We have seen the killing of the innocent police worker at the Parramatta police station, and we know so many other more serious attacks have been thwarted.

Australia has more foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria than Canada or the United States. Why is this? Where is the strong condemnation of what has transpired over in Paris and elsewhere? I believe the Grand Mufti should have done more, and I am not afraid to say it. If we do not deal effectively with this threat, then we will be dealing with our own tragedy here in Australia. I know the Prime Minister sees this, as do the National Security Committee of Cabinet and our intelligence and security forces. We have introduced into the parliament five tranches of security and counter-terrorism legislation. We have resourced our authorities to record levels. We have deployed Australian Defence personnel to Syria and Iraq and made the second-largest contribution there behind the United States. We are doing everything possible to deal with this threat both at home and abroad.

But there are hard questions that needed to be asked. They are being asked in France by President Hollande, not because he faces regional elections in a few weeks time and Le Pen and Sarkozy are breathing down his neck, but because he believes in them. After Charlie Hebdo and the events at the kosher supermarket, when they took a more conciliatory tone, they know they have to change tack. That is why Francois Hollande, in his speech at the Palace of Versailles, said that France is at war, the response will be merciless, and the French republic will do everything possible to protect its community. He called for changes across European borders and for tighter restrictions on gun trafficking and the movement of peoples.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an incredibly thoughtful writer, is a woman who was born in Somalia, made her way to the Netherlands, became a member of parliament and famously made a movie with Theo van Gough, who then was tragically stabbed to death by a Muslim extremist. Now she finds herself in America with personal protection, where she is speaking her mind about her previous faith, growing up as a Muslim, and about what needs to be done. She has some home truths for us. She talks about how Europe needs to take on some of these challenges. She talks about how the infrastructure of hatred and some of the preaching that goes on in mosques and in our schools and elsewhere needs to be tackled head on.

We need to call out this extremism for what it is. It is a threat to our way of life. I have no doubt that, if the young 15-year-old who killed the Australian police worker in Parramatta could have got his hand on more than a gun, on something that could cause more death and destruction, he would have, because he believed in martyrdom—a life after the here and the now.

Everyone in this chamber has a family, and that family is the most important thing that we have in this world. It is much more important than a career, much more important than a reputation, much more important than any material possession. More than 120 people lost their lives in France, and their families will grieve forever. We owe it to ourselves and to the Australian community, as leaders of our country, regardless of what side of the political fence we sit on, to not succumb to political correctness, to not succumb to weakness but to remember that this is a serious, serious threat that can be defeated and must be defeated and will be defeated.

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