Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I do appreciate Senator Reynolds' question and her interest in key issues of defence and strategic policy. Terrorism in our region, as we know, is a collective challenge that requires a collective response. Australia, in particular, is strongly committed to working with our partners across the region, across the Indo-Pacific, to prevent the spread of terrorism. Last week I hosted the inaugural Sub-regional Defence Ministers Meeting on Counter-Terrorism in Perth, which brought together ministers and military and Defence officials from Australia, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, to work to strengthen our counterterrorism cooperation in the region.

We have seen in recent operations against Daesh and their affiliates in the Philippines, for example, that defence forces can play a vital role in working with law enforcement agencies to disrupt the efforts of terrorist groups and their free operation in our region. We have had success against Daesh in the Middle East but what we must do here in South-East Asia particularly is to guard against becoming a new front line for terrorism, including of course the possibility, as we know, that some extremists will attempt to return to this region.

Denying terrorist groups a foothold in our region is a vital mission for regional defence forces. The Perth meeting was invaluable in building that cooperation—the collective capacity of Australia and our regional partners—to disrupt and to defeat terrorists at their source. The meeting was a very strong indication that, across the regions, nations are working together proactively to ensure the security of our region.

We know that the threat of terrorism crosses all borders. It's not something that can be addressed by any one country alone, which is why the Perth meeting was so important to ensuring that we're coordinating our efforts to defeat this threat, and why it was such an important Australian initiative.