Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government's plan for a stronger future is keeping Australians safe from a range of threats to our national security and community safety, and is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and congratulate her on the great work she has done in supporting the government's agenda during her first term in parliament. As the Treasurer said in his budget speech, we live in very uncertain times, and that's why safety and security underpins everything this government does. It underpins our plans to make sure that Australia is stronger and that we are able to ease cost-of-living pressures. We can't afford to be complacent about the range of threats that are facing our nation, whether it's a cyberattack on the systems we rely on, whether it's drugs and weapons entering our country and ending up on our streets, whether it's foreign interference threatening our sovereignty or whether it's the ongoing threat of terrorism. Keeping Australians safe is our most serious priority.

The Morrison government has a very strong record in national security, and the budget that was delivered this week certainly delivers on that. There's funding for our new counterterrorism strategy to counter violent extremism and create a new terrorist offenders register. There's over $280 million to boost the capabilities of our law enforcement agencies so that they can target serious and organised crime. There's an extra $50 million for community led projects that divert young people from a life of crime and make our community safer. And there's the most significant cyberinvestment ever, with $9.9 billion to bolster our nation's cyberdefences and our intelligence capabilities, and, importantly, that includes bolstering our defensive and offensive capabilities.

On top of that, this week we passed further vital legislation to keep us safe, to further secure our critical infrastructure and to give our law enforcement agencies the backing that they need to keep us safe. National security is important. Border security is important. Keeping Australians safe is important. Those things are in the coalition government's DNA. We can always be relied on to make sure that Australians are safe.

I have been asked whether there is an alternative approach. Over the last three years, Labor have had the opportunity on multiple occasions to speak about national security, but they have not. They have missed every opportunity to put forward their policy. The coalition government, under Prime Minister Morrison, is very clear on what its forward plans are for national security.