Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to say a few words in response to the member for McPherson's motion. There were some fine words there from the member for McPherson, but in all the things the coalition do we should look at that yawning chasm between their fine words and their deeds because this is the same person who as a minister on election day saw a complete compromising of Australia's security for short-term political gain. She has fled from the chamber now. Where was her voice on election day when we saw, for the sake of short-term political gain, an attempt to compromise those fine public servants who do keep Australia safe?

I noticed that the member for McPherson kept using the word 'gutting' about public servants, when that is not what the Albanese government has done at all. It was only five years ago that Malcolm Turnbull crunched together Australia's immigration, border protection, law enforcement and domestic security agencies into the Home Affairs portfolio. Remember: this was a purely political reorganisation, not prompted by any obvious need or any demands of the public servants, the ones actually most affected by the changes. At the time, Nicholas Stuart wrote in the Canberra Times:

Instead of having to justify why the new arrangements would make us any safer than the current division of responsibility (which has worked so well), the new requirement forces the existing offices to explain why they should continue to exist independently.

The key question that needed answering five years ago was: was this reorganisation in any simple and obvious way to improve the Public Service or benefit our democracy?

Bringing ASIO and the AFP together in one department and away from the Attorney-General was considered by some to be a fraught move. The Australian Federal Police Association has been calling for the AFP to be returned to the A-G's portfolio for a number of years. Remember that the police association are the actual people who understand policing and caring for police. That's why the Albanese government moved the AFP to the Attorney-General's portfolio. I am sorry that the person who moved the motion isn't here to listen to the response from the government MPs. She asked for it and then fled the chamber. This move was supported by the association, who have long held the view that the Commonwealth's law enforcement agency should be closely aligned with the portfolio that makes the laws in Australia. The police association has consistently argued for the Turnbull change to be reversed, saying that it compromised the AFP's organisational integrity and its ability to carry out investigations without government influence.

I'm sure everybody remembers the compromised situation that the agency was placed in during the then Attorney-General Michaelia Cash's Australian Workers Union raid and the au pair cases. Do you remember those? In the case of the au pairs, Federal Police searched the offices of fellow portfolio agency the home affairs department. And who can forget that dastardly behaviour on election day, when the coalition compromised the integrity of border protection for short-term political expediency, to their great shame?

This motion from the member for McPherson does not call on the Albanese government to reverse these portfolio changes, but what it does is question the ability of our national security agencies to work collaboratively. It also implies that national security and intelligence agencies only started to cooperate with each other when the previous government created the Department of Home Affairs, completely ignoring the work of these agencies for the many, many years of collaboration under the Howard government, the Rudd government, the Gillard government and the Abbott government, all prior to the formation of Home Affairs.

The Albanese government has complete confidence in the ability of the AFP to fight crime and to keep Australians safe. The Centre for Counter-Terrorism Coordination remains in the Department of Home Affairs and manages counterterrorism on behalf of the Commonwealth. It will now include delegated Attorney-General's Department officers in line with the administrative arrangements orders. The Albanese government will not treat national security as a political plaything. We will always respect and support our outstanding national security agencies and the men and women who actually keep Australia safe. We will not stand for the political interference shown by those opposite.

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