Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice. Will the minister advise the House what steps the government is taking to tackle violent extremism in Australia?

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

I thank the member for Deakin for that question and acknowledge the hard work that he does in his electorate. As the foreign minister has reminded the House, the need for us to work with the community to stop those who are drawn down the very dark path of radicalisation is more urgent than ever given further evidence that Australians are continuing to travel to Iraq and Syria. We know that more than 100 Australians are already involving themselves directly in those conflicts, despite the repeated warnings of this government that it is illegal to do so. The reason that our warnings cannot be clearer is highlighted by the fact that almost 30 Australians have already been killed fighting in Syria and Iraq.

The examples that we have about people who are drawn to those conflicts show us that there is no single personality type, culture or—as the foreign minister has said—even gender that is vulnerable to radicalisation. As a community, we need to start recognising that there are signs of people who are moving down this dark path of radicalisation or are being tempted by terrorist propaganda. We know that when people are going down this path they will exhibit changes to their behaviour, and those changes can be recognised by family members, friends or social groups.

The government is already providing the support needed to turn those who are susceptible from these violent and terrible ideologies. Because, ultimately, countering violent extremism involves not only strong security and law enforcement but also effective community engagement. The government's approach to CVE comprises four tiers: building strength in diversity and investing in social cohesion, focused work with communities and institutions where people are vulnerable to radicalisation, tearing down and countering extremist propaganda, and intervention and diversion of radicalised or radicalising individuals.

The government has tripled investment in countering violent extremism programs from $3 million per year to over $40 million over four years, and $22 million of this money will be spent countering this violent extremism online. As we know, despite the medieval nature of Daesh and the barbarity of that organisation, they are very effective at using modern technologies to groom people, in the same way that paedophiles groom people online. This government has also committed $13 million for a range of Living Safe Together initiatives, and nearly $2 million of this has already been spent on 34 community organisations to help them develop the skills to turn individuals away from violent and hateful ideologies. We have also spent $2 million delivering, in partnership with our state and territory colleagues, programs from the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee.

We cannot afford to wait to take action until people have been radicalised and formed an intent to do us harm. We will relentlessly prosecute those who might seek to do the community harm, but will also continue to work with the community to stop people from falling victim to these violent ideologies.