David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I wish to present an oral report relating to the committee's inquiry into the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015, and I move:

That the Senate take note of the statement.

This is slightly unusual in that it is an oral report. The written reports, which are being distributed to committee members and others, are coming from the posts from overseas. The committee's work is not available publicly but, for accountability, the committee is reporting on the fact that a delegation of three members of the committee did travel for two weeks.

The issue of national security and foreign fighters is important to the nation. Past experience of foreign fighters has shown that the majority of those who have returned have ended up plotting to commit terrorist acts in Australia, and many of them are now in jail. We need effective measures to deter radicalisation where it is occurring; and to detect and then deny those people the opportunity to cause harm to Australians or others.

As a global citizen Australia also has an interest in seeing resolution to the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in the Middle East. There are over seven million people displaced currently inside Syria and around four million refugees outside Syria in neighbouring countries. Due to foreign fighters and indigenous supporters of the Islamic State, or Daesh, around 3½ million people are displaced within Iraq. This means that there is a whole generation of children going without education, and families living in dire conditions, as well as young people at risk of radicalisation themselves. So coordination with our allies is crucial in both operational and policy responses.

So, along with the chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Mr Tehan, and the former Attorney-General, Mr Ruddock, I have just completed two weeks of meetings with counterparts in the US, UK and France, discussing a range of issues pertaining to security, shared intelligence and measures to counter violent extremism.

I should point out at this point in time that the original delegation of three was intended to include the deputy chair of the committee who is a Labor Party member. He unfortunately had to withdraw, which is why the committee voted for me to take his place. Normally this committee always conducts its activities in a bipartisan manner. But, as no other member of the opposition was available to go on that committee, I took the third place.

The security relationship with the US and the UK has always been strong, and this was reflected in the willingness of agencies such as the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State—and the UK equivalents—to provide detailed briefings and to engage in dialogue.

What was surprising and encouraging was the openness of the French government to provide access to their intelligence and counterterrorist agencies. In fact, we were informed that we were the first foreign delegation to gain access to the French intelligence services for such briefings and discussions. This highlights the high degree of concern and threat in Europe that is perceived from what is happening in Syria and Iraq and the advent the Daesh there.

The delegation also had productive meetings with legislators in each nation both from a policy and an oversight perspective. Discussions with members of both US congressional and US senate select committees on intelligence, the UK intelligence and security committee of the parliament and the French national intelligence coordinator were very constructive and informed our deliberations on the current tranche of legislation—the citizenship bill

As I said, there is no written report, but I commend this verbal report of that activity to the Senate, and the Senate will be tabling its report on this legislation in coming weeks.

Question agreed to.