Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister inform the House of the progress of Australia’s international efforts to counter the threat of terrorism?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First can I thank the honourable member for Mackellar for her question and her interest in the issue of terrorism. I think all members are very familiar with the tragic deaths of a large number of Australians as a result of terrorist activity. Australians were killed on 9-11 in New York and Washington; one was killed in Washington. Eighty-eight Australians were killed in Bali in October 2002. Australians were killed again in Bali more recently, and our embassy in Jakarta was attacked in 2004 by terrorists. Ten people were killed as a result of that.

For us, not only does the government have a fundamental obligation to provide as much protection as it can for the Australian community but on this side of the House anyway we regard it as enormously important that we fight terrorism, and we do so very effectively. That is why we have troops in Afghanistan, because we want to help the people of Afghanistan embrace freedom and democracy, and we want to ensure that Afghanistan cannot once more become a base for terrorist activities.

It is why we keep arguing our corner on the issue of Iraq. The other night I saw on television the opposition spokesman on foreign affairs claiming that the only fighting that took place in Iraq was between Sunni and Shia militias—there were not any real terrorists there. Actually, the honourable member is completely wrong. Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a very major force and has been doing everything it possibly can to create sectarian violence and as much chaos as it can. We on this side of the House do not want to give Al-Qaeda in Iraq any comfort or any victory, and we will do our best in Iraq to counter terrorism as well.

In our own region, I think the government has been doing a very effective job working with our neighbours in Indonesia and also other countries in South-East Asia to counter terrorism. Just three weeks ago I co-chaired a subregional counterterrorism meeting with Hassan Wirajuda, my Indonesian counterpart. It included police chiefs as well, and at that meeting we reinforced our determination to counter terrorism; not just congratulating ourselves on what we have done but, very importantly, reinforcing cooperation between our countries.

In conclusion, some people may wonder why we have been tough on the Hicks case, and that is of course all part of the same narrative. As a government we are deeply concerned about terrorism. Any Australian who may get involved one way or another with a terrorist organisation is a person who gets no sympathy from us as a government. It is important to understand that. I have often said to people that there are not all that many Australians who read day by day in the media about Sergeant Andrew Russell, who was killed by terrorists serving in the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan, compared to the amount of publicity that someone like David Hicks gets. He has pleaded guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organisation. So it is very important that we have a proper sense of perspective and a strong sense of determination to counter, to fight and ultimately to defeat terrorism.