Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to record the Turnbull government's and all members' strong support for Coptic Christians who are in Australia and reflect on some of the incidents we have seen overseas, in Egypt, that have led to the government announcing yesterday that we will of course support Coptic Christians here and ensure that they have visas to remain while a state of emergency exists in Egypt. We have seen that IS have made increasing attacks on Coptic worshippers at the Monastery of St Samuel the Confessor, killing 28 and injuring 22. We know that just recently, just on the last weekend, we had another brutal attack on a convoy of buses of Christian worshippers moving between churches. Since February 2017, the so-called Islamic State have called on their followers to attack Christians.

The Coptic Christians in Egypt represent the last significant concentration of Christians in the Middle East, a very sad development, considering the world's history. The last significant Christian population is now subject to attack from Islamic State. The Australian government stands shoulder to shoulder with the el-Sisi regime in protecting Coptic Christians, in the declared state of emergency and in the security that they have been providing at churches. And we stand, of course, with those Copts here in Australia who have come here on holidays or to study or who have sought protection from Australia and have genuine claims. We will be carefully assessing and reviewing all of those claims. I announced yesterday that the government will re-examine any of those claims in the light of recent developments in Egypt and updated country information that has come through from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, taking into account that Islamic State is now particularly targeting those Coptic Christians in Egypt.

I want to acknowledge the Australian community here and the churches that have lobbied assiduously for us to ensure that anyone here in Australia at the moment is carefully assessed and looked after. I want to acknowledge the Prime Minister's remarks. In reflecting on some of this, he said that this attack against innocent civilians, including children, is a horrific act of cowardice designed to terrorise and divide. He said:

Australia stands united with the Coptic Christians in shared resolve to eradicate the scourge of terrorism …

Egypt has been in a state of emergency since this began, and it will be another three months, according to the government, while that state of emergency exists.

We are, as you know, working shoulder to shoulder with our partners, like the United States, to fight and prosecute the war on terror internationally. We are working domestically to protect Coptic Christians here in Australia and to make sure they are not sent into harm's way, and we will continue to carefully monitor the situation in Egypt and ensure that we take the appropriate measures from the Australian perspective to support this important community and minority in Egypt.