Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for that question. I want to reiterate to the House that our security measures at home and abroad are directed against terrorism, not religion and not any sector of the community. It is about fighting crime and keeping Australians safe. To do this, it is absolutely essential that we have strong law enforcement agencies that are resourced properly and have the legislative powers they need to do their jobs. As the Deputy Prime Minister has noted and just to update the House, the Victorian police officer who was injured on Tuesday night is about to leave hospital and the Australian Federal Police officer who was very seriously attacked is doing well. In spite of his rather horrific injuries, he is doing as well as can be expected.

To make sure that law enforcement can do their job, we are investing $630 million in a counter-terrorism package. A very important part of that package will be investing $13.4 million in a Countering Violent Extremism program. This will be aimed at early intervention that will help to support people at risk and to deradicalise through mentoring, education and health support. It will allow us to work directly with communities so that they can help to prevent individuals moving down the wrong path to radicalisation and violence. It will also help us to prevent and counter online radicalisation, which is particularly important because we have seen recently how social media, in particular, can encourage radicalisation, particularly amongst young people.

The internet presents us with risks, but it also presents us with a great opportunity. We want to develop counter-narratives which will reach out to communities with a positive message. To do so, we will work with our international partners and big social media sites, such as Google and Facebook, to address concerns over extremists' use of websites.

The Countering Violent Extremism program is in addition to the excellent work federal and state law enforcement already do. The government and law enforcement have been working to address concerns within the community, to discuss the counter-terrorism measures and to work through ways we can reach out particularly to young people who are moving down the wrong path. We are doing this to prevent incidents like we saw in Melbourne on Tuesday evening.

A lot of work has been done and a lot of work will continue to be done. Our nation will never be about isolating part of our community based on religion, and the government will not allow that to happen. We appreciate comments that were made yesterday by Sheikh Safi, an executive member of the Australian National Imams Council, when he said:

Community harmony should be maintained at all costs. We must not let emotions take over common sense.

Now is the time to remain calm. We will continue to do everything we can to make sure that Australians live in safety together.

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