Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on this motion and I thank the member opposite who moved it this evening. Since joining the parliament, my Labor colleagues and I have done all in our power to support our agencies in their efforts in counterterrorism, both here and in other countries. In government, Labor did the same. Success in preventing terrorism, as we have heard tonight from many speakers, is the key. We know that the current threats are likely to come from within, and the motion lists the successful counterterrorism activities that have prevented, in recent years, terrorist acts that were being planned on our shores. But I would like to stress that, particularly in this place, we cannot be paralysed by fear. We must listen to the experts. We must listen to those who are on the ground working with people who are having contact with elements that would radicalise them. We must be in touch. We must build trust between the community and our counterterrorism and security agencies. That is key in our efforts to ensure that, as previous speakers have suggested, we are doing as much as we can to prevent radicalisation of people in our community.

We have heard a little about countering violent extremism, and I also wish to speak on that. It is critical in keeping us all safe. Our agencies have been forthcoming in highlighting the importance of prevention. In order for us to do that, we need to ensure that we have that trusting relationship. We need to be actively building trust between the community and our agencies. We need all Australians to feel assured that they can contact someone if they are fearful that they know someone who is being radicalised in any way. I make the point that, as we have seen today in London, terrorism comes in many forms. The notion that terrorism is limited to one set of people in our community is very naive, and I would speak to establishing trust across our community. Like our security agencies have said, I suggest that our multiculturalism and our positive multicultural community is actually the best preventative measure that we have on the ground. I encourage people in this place to take every opportunity to speak about what a strong multicultural, multi-faith community we have and to assure people in our communities that they are valued and that, in this country, everyone is equal. We need to ensure that those things happen to make people feel safe and connected to the central core of our democratic principles and our democratic institutions. This is vitally important. I support the notion that our multiculturalism and our support for multicultural policies that our society and the majority of mainstream Australian politicians often express are an example of primary counter-violent-extremist action. I encourage people to do so often at home in their electorates and in this place. There are people in our community who are easily radicalised, people who feel marginalised, people who feel isolated and people who live lives where they feel that they are not being heard, and that is the breeding ground for people to see themselves as separate to Australian society and, therefore, look for someone to blame. There are lots of things to consider here, but I think that is probably the most important.

The second think I strongly suggest—having come from an education background and having seen the number of young people who have managed to become part of this radicalisation—is that connectedness to school and connectedness to community are cornerstones of protecting our society. I encourage those opposite to look closely at school connectedness as something that needs work and needs resources. Those resources and the resourcing of schools are in your hands.

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