Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice. Will the minister update the House on how the government is supporting the law enforcement agencies in our efforts to counter growing threats of violent extremism and radicalisation here in Australia?

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde for that question. As the chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee for Law Enforcement, he understands the important work that our law enforcement agencies need to do to secure Australia from this threat.

We know that between 1990 and 2010, 30 Australians participated in the conflict in Afghanistan, either fighting or training with extremist groups. Of those 30, 25 returned to Australia and 19 of them were subsequently involved in terrorist activities. Currently, we have upwards of 150 Australians who are assessed to be involved in or supporting conflicts both here and overseas, particularly in Iraq and Syria. So the scale of the threat has increased.

As the foreign minister has pointed out, it is not a threat that is unique to Australia and we need to work closely with our regional partners to tackle it. Last week I was pleased to join with Indonesian officials in Semarang to mark the 10th anniversary of the jointly-run Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation. JCLEC was born from the increased cooperation between the Australian Federal Police and the Indonesian National Police in the wake of the first Bali bombings in 2002, that killed 88 Australians. Ten years on from the opening of that centre we know that the threat from extremists remains and that it is important that Australia responds by giving our law enforcement agencies the resources that they need to deal with it.

That is why the Abbott government is spending $64 million to enhance the ability of federal law enforcement to respond to the challenge. Almost $13½ million dollars will go to community engagement, to make sure that people do not go down the wrong path, and we will work with communities to make sure they are well informed and well equipped to deal with this challenge. Over half that money will go to allowing the AFP to lead a national disruption group, which will harness all of the resources at the disposal of the federal government to disrupt extremist activities and will go to establish two dedicated additional investigative teams.

Over $6 million will go to the AFP for diversion and monitoring to manage radicals if they do return to Australia and almost $12 million will go to the AFP to enhance its ability to work with its international partners, particularly by establishing posts in countries close to the conflict zones, such as Turkey and Jordan.

The threat posed by Australians participating in foreign conflicts in Iraq and Syria is very real, and it is larger in scale than we have faced before in Australia. We need to make sure that we equip our law enforcement and intelligence community with the resources and the powers that they need to continue to keep the Australian people safe.