Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, can I thank the honourable member for Hume for his question and for his interest. The government has given a very high priority to not just protecting Australia against terrorists but making sure we work with our regional neighbours in order to enhance the capacities of the region as a whole to deal with the problem of terrorism. Under this budget, the government will provide an additional $92.6 million to boost the capacity of countries in our region to fight terrorism. South-East Asian countries are front-line countries in the fight against terrorism and we have been collaborating with our neighbours to a very substantial extent. Counter-terrorism initiatives in the region are now worth something like $400 million since 2004. The fact is that our robust approach to counter-terrorism in the region is saving lives and is helping our regional neighbours to deal with the problem of terrorism. Terrorist networks have been disrupted and over 300 terrorists in South-East Asia have been tracked down and brought to justice. For example, as recently as 29 April the Indonesian police raided a house in Central Java, arresting two associates of Noordin Top and killing two other terrorists and seizing explosives. A number of terrorist trials are under way in Indonesia, including four which commenced yesterday, relating to the October 2005 Bali bombings.

The fact is that a number of Australian agencies are helping particularly Indonesia but also other countries in the region to fight terrorism. In the budget, the AFP and the intelligence agencies will get $34 million to continue this work; Customs, $7 million; the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, $10.9 million; nuclear safety agencies, $5 million; and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, $35 million. I think that, apart from the United States, there is no other country that makes a greater contribution to the counter-terrorism effort in the region. It is an important theme of and component of our budget that, in the task of securing Australia and continuing to deal with the international security threats we face, we give such a high priority to assisting our regional neighbours to counter terrorism.

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