Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice, and I want to thank the minister for the outstanding work he is doing with, and on behalf of, the Australian Federal Police to keep our nation safe. Will the minister inform the House of the action the government is taking to ensure federal law enforcement agencies have the resources that they need to tackle the threat of terrorism?

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

I thank the member for Mitchell for his question. The events of last night are a reminder of the harm that our police can face on the front line. Our thoughts are with the families of those officers who were injured, and also with the family of the deceased. As the Acting Prime Minister has said, law enforcement and security agencies are taking all necessary steps to keep Australians safe and secure. I reiterate that everyone should remain calm, continue to go about their business and allow our law enforcement and security agencies to conduct a full investigation into this incident. Keeping Australians safe requires a coordinated national response, and we have seen last week, and again last night, how federal authorities work in conjunction with state police to disrupt and detect suspected terrorist activity intended to cause harm to members of our community. This collaboration is important in bringing together our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and to enable them to utilise all of the resources that are at their disposal.

Furthermore, the government is investing $630 million in a counter-terrorism package—$64 million will be for federal law enforcement, $32 million of which will go to the Australian Federal Police to run a multi-agency national disruption group; more than $13 million will go to strengthening community engagement programs across Australia; $24 million will go to the Australian Crime Commission, which will deliver 22 investigators and analysts so the ACC can form a foreign fighters task force; and $22 million will go to AUSTRAC. As I indicated in the House yesterday, AUSTRAC will use this money to detect and stop terrorism financing. The Abbott government will continue to do all it can, very importantly, to support community leaders who play a critical role in persuading young Australians from inflicting harm on home soil and from travelling into the conflict zone to fight.

Very soon today we will also be introducing legislation into the Senate which gives our law enforcement and intelligence agencies powers that are flexible enough to deal with the different contingencies they now face. The work the government is doing with our agencies is not about targeting any particular community, and it is not about religion. It is about dealing with extremists who would seek to do Australia harm, and I want to assure everyone in Australia that our law enforcement community, our intelligence agencies and our government are doing everything we can to keep our country safe.