George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

As you know, Senator Fawcett, keeping Australians safe and secure is the highest responsibility of government, and that is reflected in the budget priorities. The Abbott government has boosted counter-terrorism funding for our law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies by some $1.1 billion. That includes an additional $450 million in last night's budget to strengthen intelligence capabilities and to counter extremist messaging. Within that $450 million is: $296 million to strengthen the capabilities of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, including updating its IT systems; $22 million to counter terrorism propaganda online; and $131 million to assist telecommunications providers to upgrade their system so they can retain metadata for two years.

I might mention that Senator Wright, in a question she directed to Senator Abetz yesterday, asserted that all of the spend has been on the agencies. That is not true at all. As well as the $1.1 billion invested in the agencies, we have expended an additional $545 million over four years to support social cohesion and community based programs. The government is also providing a further $750 million in this budget to extend Australia's military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East. That includes $382 million for the ADF operations to disrupt and degrade ISIL, or Daesh, in Iraq, combating violent extremism at its source as part of the international coalition.