Chris Crewther (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on the benefits of a well-managed national security agenda, including for my electorate of Dunkley? What steps is the government taking to strengthen the requirements for Australian citizenship?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Like all Australians, and certainly the people represented by all of my colleagues on both sides, I want to see whatever effort is possible to defeat the scourge of terrorism. We know that the threat of terrorism is real. I think that, in some parts of the country at the moment, there is some complacency about the threat as it is manifesting, particularly with foreign fighters as they are returning from overseas. But it's not only that. As we're seeing in Victoria, we have gang violence issues where people who are going out on a Saturday night want to enjoy time with their families but face the scourge of that local crime.

The Australian government, as announced by the Prime Minister a couple of weeks ago in setting up the Home Affairs portfolio, wants to make sure that all of our intelligence and crime fighting agencies are working as effectively together as possible. It means that we do want to make sure that the agencies have a proper sharing of information and intelligence where it's appropriate to do so. That means we need to work more effectively—as effectively as we are now, but even more effectively—with our state colleagues as well. It means that we need to recognise the threats as they're presenting in our community.

Through the work that we've done, for example, around the cancellation of visas of criminals in our country—people that have done the wrong thing against Australians—we have made this country a safer place. I pay full tribute to the Minister for Justice, the Attorney-General and all of the agencies, including the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, for the work that they have done in averting that crisis in Sydney in the last fortnight. We have also been able to, through a tough border protection policy, bring about a higher level of national security, because, if you can't secure your borders, you cannot secure the nation's security. That has been demonstrated over the course of the last several years. It was demonstrated by this government when we restored integrity to our borders. Under Labor, tragically, 1,200 people drowned at sea and 50,000 people arrived on 800 boats. You cannot have a situation where that prevails.

We have, in announcing our recent citizenship law changes, said to Australians that we want to make sure that we can have people becoming Australian citizens, as the vast majority of people currently do—people who abide by Australian laws, who abide by Australian values and who are able to integrate into Australian society. At one stage, the Leader of the Opposition believed in that. At one stage he said he supported this, but you know what happens. Have a look at the track record of the Labor Party and of this Leader of the Opposition. He is duplicitous and he hops around. He tells people in one audience what they want to hear and he tells people in the next audience something different. The Australian public have worked this bloke out. This bloke is the greatest fraud that has been in this chamber since Federation. That's the reality of this Leader of the Opposition. This government will stand up for national security. We need your support. (Time expired)