Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to add my voice to concerns that have already been raised in this chamber today about what was effectively a media opportunity for the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General at the ASIO headquarters yesterday. We can have a debate about the comments by Mr Duncan Lewis regarding what was or was not the information that was presented. What I am concerned about, and what I believe the Senate should be concerned about, is this trend towards the politicisation of these kinds of issues. There is nothing wrong with the Prime Minister of Australia going to the headquarters of ASIO for a briefing. I am sure that it is something that has happened with many Prime Ministers and many attorneys-general on a regular basis. I imagine that, on many occasions, the senior figures within ASIO will come to government—but the use of cameras and taking in photographers, and the photos that were taken? From a Sydney perspective, it concerns me when you have maps that highlight 'hot spots'. That is the term that has been used in the media to cover suburbs like Lidcombe and Greenacre, Punchbowl, Bankstown, Alburn and Lakemba. It reeks of the fact that not only are these props being used as part of a media opportunity but these communities have been slurred. These communities get impacted upon. The reputations of these kinds of communities get tarnished. This idea that it is somehow appropriate or right for the Prime Minister to be taking media cameras into ASIO headquarters to take photos of a briefing of that kind, frankly, concerns me because it reeks of politicisation.

It is the same trend that we saw and heard when the Attorney-General answered questions to this effect today. It is the same trend that we have seen regarding the most recent bill that was introduced into the House yesterday, and, as the Attorney-General pointed out, it has been appropriately referred to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. Again, the fact that this bill was being debated and was out there in the public domain, yet the legal advice and the legislation itself was not shown to the opposition for such a long period of time, is concerning.

I feel there has been a very good, bipartisan approach towards national security issues over the past few years. What is worrying is that there is an increasing trend and, dare I say it, a desire, at times, from the government to try and break that consensus by their actions and by their behaviour. I feel that the politicisation of these kinds of issues—the use of ASIO headquarters as a media opportunity—is not something we should support and not something we should endorse.

In the brief time that I have remaining, I also want to touch on the issue of naval shipbuilding that was in a question from Senator Madigan—