Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2006 is an important piece in the armoury of our country when it comes to a whole range of different levels of security. The prospect of terrorism in our country has been advanced again and again in recent times, and it is plain across the board that the kinds of preparations we need to make today are so much more extensive than ever before. The preparedness we require from our emergency services, our police forces and the military and the levels of coordination we need between all those individual groups, as well as coordination between federal government, state governments and local councils—the whole community effort that must go into preparing for and, if need be, repelling a serious incident involving terrorism or some form of attack on our nation or our communities—are so much more comprehensive. It is a requirement for us to be vigilant, and this piece of legislation goes to that need.

In my electorate of Blair, the perception among ordinary people on the street is that we are living in difficult times, with the threat of terrorism emerging and strengthening. People on the streets of Ipswich, Kingaroy or Gatton want to know that governments at all levels are working together effectively on this question and that there is no dispute or grey area left in the debate. It is rewarding for them to see the spirit of cooperation that is occurring between the state and local authorities and the Commonwealth and the extensive discussions that are going on between the various emergency services and military authorities to square away any outstanding issues.

This piece of legislation comes in the wake of legislation in September 2000 before the Sydney Olympics which paved the way for the smooth running of the Olympics. It certainly did, but the amendments that were put forward at that time contained many of the features and addressed many of the issues that we address today. It was opportune for Australians that we had the opportunity to prepare and to run through some of these questions earlier on because, in the wake of September 11 2001, we have had the advantage of putting in train many of the issues and addressing many of the questions of that earlier time. To revisit them now in the light of this higher level of threat is, I think, one of the reasons why we have such good cooperation, why we have such effective commitment to delivering laws that are workable and why we have an appreciation of the potential threat to our communities. When I say ‘the potential threat to our communities’, it extends to all kinds of levels. We want to protect people from and prevent acts of violence, and we want to be able to recapture a location or a thing, seize dangerous items related to a threat, control the movement of persons or a means of transport and evacuate people to a place of safety. These are powers that are provided to the ADF in support of civilian authorities under this legislation.

The legislation clarifies the role of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. It provides for critical infrastructure protection, expedited call-out procedures, ADF powers to resolve mobile terrorist incidents, public notification of some ADF activities, the creation of an aviation division under part IIIAAA and an offshore division under the same part, the identification of ADF personnel and the use of reserve forces in domestic security operations.

There has been unanimous and fairly comprehensive support for this legislation from the opposition. A very positive attitude has been expressed in relation to this legislation across all political points of view—apart from one, that notably being the Greens’ spokesman in the Senate, Senator Brown. The charge that he put there linking the development of this legislation to the defence used by Nazis at the Nuremberg trials, where guilty parties claimed to be only carrying out the orders given to them by their superiors, is a form of extremism that flies in the face of logic and the strong supervision and careful analysis of this bill by every other party in the parliament and by relevant organisations within this country.

For Senator Brown to use that analogy—it might be tempting to say that was a cheap way to try to get a headline—is a form of extremism that I think would be worthy of the Nazis themselves. To advocate that kind of conspiracy theory, that kind of anti-Australian motivation, that kind of twisted motivation, and to link that to the motivation of the government in seeking to represent the needs of Australian people and indeed the opposition is reprehensible. It deserves short shrift from everyone in this House and it deserves to be noted by people because, by making such absurd and extreme statements, Senator Brown undermines the credibility of his party. Many would say it is pretty hard to undermine the Greens’ credibility further than it already has been but he has done that. It is good to see the all-round condemnation that has been heaped upon him—from the government benches, from the opposition and even from the Democrats. It is good to see those absurd words being outed in that way.

There have been amendments agreed to in the Senate that affect this legislation: the provision of a third tier to streamline the call-out process; and a mechanism to consult the relevant state and territory within which incidents are occurring, except in instances of exceptional circumstances regarding the protection of critical infrastructure. These are important amendments. The change in the call-out process provides a third tier. The two tiers initially provided were the Prime Minister, and the defence minister and the Attorney-General, as the two tiers from which a call-out authorisation would be sought. Now there is a third tier inserted, which includes the remaining authorising minister, and one of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs or the Treasurer. That provides the necessary flexibility, because we are dealing with incidents that can happen very quickly.

Terrorist techniques are commonly aimed at using innocent bystanders as targets. There can be an objective sought by terrorists of mass civilian casualties, of infrastructure as a possible target and of suicide bombing. And warning times, if they exist at all, can be very short. These new and emerging threats require and challenge the government and all authorities to be creative in thinking ahead as to what possible atrocity might be visited upon us next.

Members opposite spoke at quite some length about Beslan. In the wake of September 11 there was commentary to the effect of saying, ‘How far will terrorists go? How inhuman can they be?’ People who watched with horror the events of September 11 were dragged to a new level of disgust by what occurred at Beslan. The bestial behaviour of the terrorists in that incident left people wondering what kind of downward spiral the world was heading into. It required the authorities in Australia and in every country of the world to probe the very depths of their imagination to try to outwit this kind of downward spiral, to look down to the lowest common denominator in every case and forewarn us, forearm us and prepare us for that kind of eventuality, as gross as it might be.

In this country we are so very fortunate because we have not been visited with the shocks that we have seen in London, on the Continent or in the US—we have not been visited by that kind of terror. But the government has nonetheless been advancing our position and preparing the position of the armed forces in our country. One thing I am immensely proud of, as the member that represents the good personnel of the Amberley Air Force base and the district that supports it, is the unanimous vote of confidence that I get as a member of the government for the good work that has been being done by the minister, by the cabinet, by the government in general in investing in defence and in providing greater support for defence. We have seen the development within Australia of new hardware providing support for the defence forces, which would be called on in the event of a terrorist attack such as is contemplated in this bill.

We have seen the emergence of these new, upgraded AP3C Orion surveillance aircraft and, from what I have seen of their performance—including being fortunate enough to be involved in their activities over the Gulf, in operations in support of military activities in Iraq—those aircraft are able to contribute immeasurably to the detection of smuggling operations and all kinds of basic surveillance activities. They can identify and report, and connect people on the ground through a method of surveillance that delivers up a real-time example of what is going on on the ground and provide situational awareness for commanders in the field. The AP3Cs are available for use not only in an event such as the Iraq situation but in the sorts of circumstances that are contemplated here.

In Amberley at the moment we have started construction of the Wedgetail aircraft, an airborne early warning and control aircraft. Two of those aircraft are currently under construction in the States and another four will be built at Amberley. Those aircraft will provide the latest and greatest in airborne early warning and control measures to support our troops. Once again, these aircraft are to be used as support in an event such as this. The government has had the foresight to move for the purchase of Abrams tanks to replace the existing armoury within the Defence Force. We have seen the decision to purchase air-to-air refuelling aircraft of the latest generation—not converted 707s, but new, effective aircraft.

Today we have seen more F111s flying on a daily basis around Amberley than have been in the air for many years, and they are equipped at a higher level. It is incredible to think that at the time of the first Gulf War those aircraft could not be sent into the theatre of conflict because they were lacking in the electronic countermeasures that would be needed to operate in such a theatre. That is no longer the case today. Those aircraft are about as sharp as anything in the theatres of conflict anywhere in the world. The aircraft remain an absolute deterrent not only for potential belligerents internationally but also for international terrorists. We have also seen new initiatives in relation to air warfare destroyers. We do need to provide the best facilities and equipment. These things all provide our defence forces with the confidence that they need.

Also, when I was visiting Iraq recently, we heard a never-ending series of comments in support of the kit being provided to our soldiers in the field. We heard universally from the soldiers that we have good equipment, the best equipment: night vision equipment, boots and camouflage gear. While we were there the American soldiers, in particular, were very jealous not just of the camouflage equipment provided to our troops. The ASLAVs were also very much a source of jealousy for the American troops and the British troops, who were looking at our equipment with envy, knowing that it is the best in the theatre and that it provides the best deterrence.

It is ironic that there should have been recent criticism of this equipment, since UK troops are driving around Iraq in the Land Rovers left over from Northern Ireland and our troops are protected in ASLAVs. Soldiers in country after country are lining up asking, ‘Where do we get these ASLAVs?’ They look at the camouflage gear and say, ‘If only we had some of that stuff it would be far more effective than what we currently have.’

It is a great source of pride to me that our equipment is of such a high standard and that our government is so focused on the needs of our Defence Force. It is a need that relates not only to the war-fighting capacity of our troops but also to their capacity to respond to terrorism. Terrorism is causing a great shiver to those in the Australian community. We want to see this level of effective communication, consultation and coordination between all levels of government, and under the legislation that is laid out here we have that. I am very proud to say congratulations to the minister and to the government on the contribution that they have made.

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