House debates

Wednesday, 1 October 2014

Statements on Indulgence

National Security

12:54 pm

Photo of Dan TehanDan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise today to support the comments of the member for Deakin and others who have spoken on this statement that the Prime Minister made in the parliament, a very important statement. It was a statement which dealt with the issue that we have before us today of a heightened security risk in our nation.

The first thing that I think the Prime Minister made very clear was that this is a real threat. It is a threat which exists and it is a threat which the government is taking incredibly seriously. As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister has reassured Australians that the No. 1 priority of this government is to keep Australians safe. As the member for Deakin put it so succinctly, that freedom to be able to walk down the street and to sleep in your bed at night is a fundamental freedom that the government wants to protect. That is why the security of Australians is, rightly, our No. 1 priority.

What is the threat that we are facing? I think that in the statement he made to the House and in other public statements that he has made, the Prime Minister has articulated it extremely well. We have 60 Australians fighting in Iraq and Syria at the moment and we have 100 Australian supporting them in one way or another, whether that be through financing, helping with travelling arrangements or other types of activities. Concerningly, more than 20 of these foreign fighters have returned home to Australia. We have to assume that many of those 20 will be radicalised and, I think, capable of undertaking brutal and abhorrent acts as a result of what they have been doing over in Iraq and Syria.

The evidence points to the fact that fighters who have been over to these areas and who do come back do, sadly, have on their minds carrying out terrorist attacks in this country. We only have to look at Afghanistan; history shows that what occurred there demonstrates that the threat we have now is extremely real. There are about 30 Australian foreign fighters who went to Afghanistan to fight with al-Qaeda. We know that 20 of those came back to Australia. The figure is roughly about 18 who were suspected of potentially having an interest in carrying out a terrorist attack, and eight of the 30 were convicted. That should be a worrying sign for what we now face; that was 30 in Afghanistan and we are now looking at over 100 Australians in Syria and Iraq. And we know that 20 of those have returned to Australia already.

This is why the government is taking this threat so realistically. It is absolutely paramount that we put in place the measures to be able to deal with this, and that is what the government is doing. Three tranches of legislation are going to come before the House. Already we have one tranche that will pass the House today. There will be another tranche, which has been introduced in the Senate and which will come before this parliament once the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security has dealt with it. That committee will report to the House on that particular bill on 17 October and, as the Attorney-General and the Prime Minister have indicated, there will be a third tranche of legislation, most likely to be introduced by the end of the year, dealing with the retention of data so that our intelligence agencies can once again keep our nation safe.

These three pieces of legislation equip our intelligence agencies and our police force to keep Australia safe. That is what they are designed to do. But they also have within them safeguards to make sure that those freedoms that Australians enjoy can also continue to the maximum extent possible—and the government is concerned about ensuring that it gets the balance right. I would say to those—especially in the media—who have recently been raising concerns about the first tranche of legislation, which has passed through the Senate and which hopefully will pass through the House today, that we are taking the right to freedom of the press seriously.

You only have to look at the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security to see that. Recommendations 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 deal specifically with special intelligence operations and ensuring that the proper scrutiny is there and where there are some freedoms that are impinged upon, especially when it comes to the freedom of reporting, that these are valid. I would say to all journalists who have raised concerns in this area, 'Please look at those recommendations because you will see that the government has accepted every one of those as a result of the concerns which were raised.'

We know the threat is there. We know that the government has acted and put in place legislation to ensure that we can deal with this threat. The government has also put its money where its mouth is. Six hundred and thirty million dollars has been provided collectively to the AFP, to Customs, to ASIO, to ASIS and the ONA to deal with this threat. This money was necessary. It is all very well us talking about the threat, but we have to make sure that our agencies are financed to deal with it as well. That is why the government has acted rightly in this regard.

I would like at this stage to point to one issue which I think also needs to be looked at. This is an issue which, once again, the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence and Security has raised, this time in its review of administration and expenditure of Australia's intelligence agencies. Recommendation 2 of our most recent report says:

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government review the continued application of the efficiency dividend and other savings measures to the agencies comprising the Australian Intelligence Community. Particular consideration should be given to the cumulative impact of these measures on operational capacity, including maintaining optimal staffing levels, and the ongoing ability of agencies to protect Australia’s national security.

It is correct that we give additional resources to our intelligence agencies, but we also must be cognisant of the fact that efficiency dividends seek to take money away from these agencies. At a time when we have a heightened threat, at a time when we are looking to thoroughly resource our intelligence agencies, we do need to consider whether the efficiency dividend should continue to apply to those agencies that are on the front line of dealing with this threat. I am sure this is something which the government will be considering; but this is a bipartisan recommendation made by the committee and I think it is something that the government needs to take seriously and needs to look at. I commend the $630 million that has been provided, but I do think that the efficiency dividend, as it applies to our agencies, is something that we also need to keep in the back of our minds.

I commend the Prime Minister for his statement to the House. I commend him for the leadership that he has shown on this issue, not only here in Australia but internationally as well. The way he has responded in a purposeful, respectful but determined manner has meant that the Australian people feel like they have a government that is doing all it can to keep the nation safe. That is absolutely vital at a time like this. I also commend the government for ensuring that those agencies that have to fight this heightened security threat have the resources to be able to do this through providing the additional $630 million.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 13:04

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