Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice. Will the minister advise the House what action the government is taking to detect and disrupt terrorism financing in Australia?

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

I thank the member for Boothby for that important question. As the Prime Minister has already noted, the priority of this government is the safety and security of all Australians. We are now aware of up to 160 of our citizens who are either fighting or supporting the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. To do this, terrorist groups need both material and financial support. They need this to carry out their barbarous acts—the sort of things we have seen recently. Supporting them is a serious crime under Australian law and is punishable by life imprisonment.

The Abbott government is determined to detect and disrupt terrorism financing in Australia and to take action against people who support terrorists. As the Prime Minister announced on 11 September as part of the government's $630 million counter-terrorism package, $20 million has been provided to AUSTRAC for a dedicated national security team. AUSTRAC is the agency responsible for counter-terrorism financing, and this new commitment will provide additional analysts and new intelligence systems which will significantly enhance their ability to do that. AUSTRAC will work with other national security and law enforcement agencies to prevent financial support flowing to those Australians who are fighting overseas, to identify opportunities to disrupt and stop terrorist acts and to monitor financial activity in relation to foreign conflicts.

AUSTRAC has recently provided the government with a report into terrorism financing and its assessment is that the conflicts in Syria and Iraq currently pose the most significant terrorism financing risks to our country. Some perpetrators attempt to disguise funds collected for terrorist groups by concealing them with legitimate business or fundraising activities, and this is why we need to give the experts all the resources they need to do this job. We saw last week the important work of AUSTRAC when it suspended the registration of Bisotel Rieh, a Sydney based remitter service. This company had failed to declare $9 million of transfers between January and August of this year. AUSTRAC has also commenced proceedings to cancel Bisotel Rieh's registration due to the risk that that company may be involved in or utilised for terrorism financing.

Anyone who supports terrorists is playing a direct role in their atrocious actions and they are endangering Australian lives. This government will continue to make the necessary investments to stop this happening and will continue to keep all Australians safe and secure.