Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. What is the government doing to combat terrorism at home and abroad?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I would have thought that all members of this place would be concerned about appropriate actions to deal with the threat of terrorism at home and abroad, but it seems that those opposite find this in part a laughing matter; the government does not. On too many occasions my own predecessors in this position have stood in the parliament to mourn the deaths of Australians who have perished as victims of terrorism. As a nation we mourned the murder of 88 innocent Australians in the Bali bombing in 2002. We mourned also those who died in subsequent attacks in New York, in Riyadh, in Jakarta, in London and in Mumbai. These attacks have taken away the lives of far too many innocent Australians and cut down far too many Australians in their prime. Each of these individual stories is a human tragedy for their families and for those who have survived them. Our thoughts are again with them today.

The threat of terrorism has not gone away. The threat comes in the main from adherence to the distorted and militant interpretation of Islam that is espoused by groups such as al-Qaeda. Prior to the rise of jihadist terrorism, Australia was not a specific target of terrorist organisations. Now Australia is such a target. That is why, as part of our national security reform agenda, we have placed particular priority on combating terrorism. In a key milestone in that effort today the government is releasing the counterterrorism white paper, Securing Australia: protecting our community. It is the first white paper on counterterrorism to integrate the domestic and the foreign elements of the terrorist threat and the government’s response. Increasingly, this becomes a seamless threat.

The white paper outlines two key shifts in the terrorist threat to Australia. Firstly, there has been some counterterrorism success in South and South-East Asia, but these have been offset by new areas of concern, such as Somalia and Yemen, where a new generation of terrorists inspired by the message of al-Qaeda are taking root. Secondly—and I would have thought this is of particular significance to this House and the country—Australia now faces an increased terrorist threat from people born or raised in Australia who take inspiration from international Jihadist narratives. The bombings in London in July 2005 brought that starkly home to us. Home-grown terrorism is now a reality in many Western democracies. I note reports in the last two days. The United States Secretary of Homeland Security has commented on the rise of home-grown terrorist threats in the United States of America. It is an increasing feature of the threat landscape in Australia, and it is something of which the nation must take note.

The government is committed to concrete action to combat terrorism. No government can guarantee that Australia will be free from the threat of terrorism, but the government can guarantee that we will take all necessary and practical measures to combat the threat of terrorism. I am concerned that those opposite continue to find action against terrorism a laughing matter. There are four key elements to our strategy encapsulated in the words ‘analysis’, ‘protection’, ‘response’ and ‘resilience’.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The Prime Minister will resume his seat. The question has been asked; the Prime Minister is responding to the question. The Prime Minister has the call.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government is committed to concrete action to combat terrorism. We do so in four specific respects—and these are canvassed in the white paper, which I draw to the attention of honourable members—analysis, protection, response and resilience. Analysis of course deals with the question of the operation of our intelligence agencies, which once again the Leader of the Opposition seems to find a laughing matter; we do not. On protection, the government will need to embrace a range of additional measures to deal with the terrorist threat.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The Prime Minister has said that I find this a laughing matter. I do not and I ask him to withdraw.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I would have thought that the House would come to order when the subject matter was of importance. I suggest to those that feel aggrieved that less interjection would save them from their grievances.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government’s response to the terrorist threat is encapsulated in four categories: analysis, protection, response and resilience. I was dealing with the question of analysis, which goes to the operation of our intelligence agencies. Protection concerns what we do to enhance, for example, the security domain at our airports and also other specific measures which we referred to earlier today. Response deals with having robust legal frameworks and enforcement agencies to assist in preventing terrorist attacks from taking place or dealing with them in the event that they do. On resilience, Australia’s strong and resilient community has a key role to play in arresting the development of violent extremism and terrorism on the home front.

Today, with the release of the white paper, the government has committed itself to new measures in this respect. In a major strengthening of our measures in this regard, the government will invest $69 million over four years to introduce biometric checks for visa applications in around 10 countries. Under the new system people applying for a non-electronic visa in these countries will be required to present in person at a visa application centre to lodge their visa application and submit fingerprints and facial images. The government has also decided to establish a new multi-agency Counter-Terrorism Control Centre within ASIO to better coordinate our counterterrorism capabilities on the ground. These commitments today are in addition to the $200 million investment that we have made to strengthen aviation security.

As I said before, no government can guarantee that Australia will be free from the terrorist threat, but what we can do is take practical measures in order to reduce the threat, and that is what I have outlined to the House today. Home-grown terrorism is now a reality in Australia we must accept. We are advised by the agencies that home-grown terrorism in Australia is of increasing concern, and that is why we have announced the range of measures contained in today’s paper.