Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the significance of the recent signing of the Australia-European Union Security and Defence Partnership;

(2) notes that this broad-ranging partnership reflects the:

(a) meaningful cooperation between Australia and the European Union across the defence and space industries;

(b) collaborative motivation to build capacity to manage and resilience to meet complex security threats in the Indo-Pacific and European regions; and

(c) joint determination to combat online radicalisation and terrorism financing; and

(3) affirms the Government's commitment to continue to provide new international opportunities for Australian businesses at the cutting edge of defence technology and innovation, in parallel with a Future Made in Australia.

This motion speaks to a changing world, where it's more important than ever to cement relationships with our traditional allies—to build, grow and nurture them through the lens of shared values, a desire for peace, stability and security, and an understanding of how the scales of global power are shifting. The Albanese Labor government entered into the defence and security partnership with the European Union in March this year with that framework firmly in mind.

The partnership is a demonstration of Australia's growing strategic partnership with the European Union. Building from already existing friendships, taking those friendships and deepening them, has become urgent. It is something the government will continue to do, because the government's first order of the day is keeping Australians safe and safeguarding our national interests.

As recognised in the preface to the partnership document, both Australia and the European Union recognise and respect democratic principles, human rights, gender equality, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. The partnership recognises the urgent need to protect and double down on these principles in the face of significant global pressure and disruption being put on them. The benefits of this defence and security partnership with the European Union are many. They can be categorised under three key themes: national security, economic opportunity and peace.

With regard to national security, the wide-ranging partnership will boost cooperation across defence industry, cyber, economic security, counterterrorism, combating all forms of hatred, which is growing in breadth and complexity, and countering hybrid threats. There is also a focus on emerging technologies, maritime security, economic security, through critical minerals, and defence industry cooperation. As an island continent, maritime security, which includes border protection and protection of seaborne supply, is critical. The partnership recognises the importance of a rules-based regional maritime security architecture, including secure and resilient sea lines of communication and freedom of navigation in accordance with international law—first and foremost, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The partnership will also allow Australia and the European Union to increase information sharing and capacity building in order to partner to combat the curse that is online radicalisation, to join forces to combat terrorist financing, to establish a new space security dialogue and to identify, manage and withstand the increasingly complex security risks in each other's respective regions. As rightly recognised by the partnership, the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic are interconnected and interdependent.

With regard to the second theme, economic security, the partnership will also create new defence procurement opportunities for Australian and European businesses. The partnership also specifically calls for Australia and the European Union to build secure and sustainable critical and strategic minerals value chains between them, with a specific goal being to support the defence industry plus other key industrial sectors.

Finally, the third theme of the partnership is stability and peace. The partnership quite rightly commits to the women, peace and security agenda and calls on Australia and the European Union to ensure that gender equality is integrated in all facets and all levels of cooperation with regard to defence and security. Gender equality must remain a political, economic and national security priority. We know that countries where gender equality is further progressed and reasonably well functioning are more peaceful and stable. There is less conflict. We know that, when women's peacemaking skills are harnessed and women have a seat at the peace agreement negotiating table, peace is more sustainable and longer lasting. We also know that women and girls are more deeply and catastrophically affected by conflict and instability. So the importance of the acknowledgement of gender equality in this partnership and the importance of the acknowledgement of the role gender equality plays when it comes to conflict avoidance and sustainable peace in this partnership cannot be underestimated.

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