Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to associate myself and the people of Lindsay, whom I represent, with the remarks of the Prime Minister on 22 September in the House of Representatives. Our nation, our local community, our beliefs and our government have been challenged by a number of abhorrent international events. From the shooting down of Malaysian flight MH17 to the rise of the militant group Islamic State, all of a sudden our world seems very, very small. Although we may be geographically on the other side of the world, these events have been felt ever so strongly here in Australia. Australians have lost family and friends in the shooting down of MH17. People who were returning home from their holidays or who were coming to Australia for community events and for business lost their lives so tragically on that day. There have been evil images of beheadings at the hands of extremists and, sadly, and most scarily and frighteningly, by some people who have at some time even called Australia home.

These events test the international communities and the resolve of our allies. The Prime Minister is correct in saying that protecting our people is the first duty of government. I believe this too. I rise in support of the Prime Minister's words. Further, I commend the Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney-General for the way they have met these challenges and the steps they have taken to ensure the safety of our local communities. I also wish to thank the opposition for their cooperation and support in this time.

Australia is a great nation, and together the entire parliament must strive to protect and support our local communities for a better future and a better life. Further, our communities have been united by the events that continue to haunt our nightly news programs. The brutality and the confronting imagery internationally and, in the past few weeks, on our own doorstep remind us of our own fragility but also of what it means to make Australia a great nation.

I believe this is a great nation, and in these times of adversity it is important that we band together. Terrorists can only succeed when they can strike to the hearts and minds of innocent people. The evil that is ISIL must not succeed. We must stay strong to the Australian life that we all love and cherish. Once again I quote the Prime Minister in his words that 'hope is stronger than fear' and 'decency can prevail over brute force'. Australia should remain a country where people trust each other, welcome newcomers and are justifiably confident that in most respects our future will be even better than our past. Our country must remain a beacon of hope and optimism that shines around the world. We should remain a country where people trust each other and where welcome newcomers are justifiably confident that our future will be even better than our past. We will fight to protect these values. Over the past two weeks, I have had an outpouring of support from my local community about the actions of the Prime Minister and the government in regard to international and local terrorism threats. I recently sent a survey to members of our local community. One of the questions I asked was, 'If you could raise an issue in federal parliament, what would that be?' Overwhelmingly, the main response was to secure our borders and to fight this international threat of terrorism. James Collins of South Penrith said:

I applaud the Government for securing Australia's borders and introducing legislation giving the Police, National security and ASIO additional powers to cope with the current terrorist situation in Australia.

Tania Cook, of Orchard Hills said:

Why allow anyone who goes overseas to fight with IS back into Australia, why not let them stay there and live in a place that has no safety or peace?

Barry Suffling of Penrith said:

People proposing to immigrate to Australia must swear to … never bring their home country's tribal conflicts or wars to this country.

Wendy Johnson of Emu Plains said:

Keeping Australia secure and safe for us, our children and future generations.

Graham Freeman in South Penrith answered:

Stronger Visa control on people coming back to Australia.

Mr and Mrs Richard Last of Oxley Park said simply:

Stop the terrorists.

There were so many more. That was merely a glimpse as to what has come into my office in the last few weeks.

But I can draw on this demonstration to show that people really do want to see action to protect Australia, our citizens and our way of life. The raids across Australia and in Sydney and Brisbane a few weeks ago and the unfortunate disturbing events in Melbourne in the past week proved that the local threat is real but also proved that the public should feel confident that the police, security services and government are taking every possible step to ensure the safety of the community. The government is doing whatever is possible to support our police and agencies in keeping people safe. Australia can and should always live normally.

But, even in these disturbing times, I take the opportunity to remind local communities that these security measures both at home and abroad should be against terrorism, not against religion. This threat comes from a minority group of extremists. Mostly, Australian Muslims are peace-loving people. Australian Muslims believe that ISIL is committing 'crimes against community and sins against God.' Nothing can justify the beheadings, crucifixions, mass executions, ethnic cleansing, rape and sexual slavery that have taken place and beencaptured in the towns and the cities. But we cannot blame an entire ethnicity or religious group for the actions of such a small minority—what is a death cult. The foundations of our communities, particularly in Western Sydney, are built on multiculturalism. We should all stand together, united in our outrage and disgust at this minority group, but not turn against each other due to generalisations about religious beliefs. Together, we should hope to protect Australia's way of life and to outlaw this extremist behaviour.

There will always be hope. As Alexander Pope said in his famous poem An Essay on Man:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confined from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

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