Senate debates

Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Questions without Notice

National Security

2:05 pm

Photo of Barry O'SullivanBarry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Brandis. Will the Attorney-General inform the Senate what recent actions the government has taken to further strengthen national security?

Photo of George BrandisGeorge Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | | Hansard source

Thank you very much indeed, Senator O'Sullivan. That is an important question. May I take this opportunity to welcome you back from the time you spent as the Australian parliamentary delegate to the United Nations in New York, where I know your contribution to the deliberations of the committees on which you sat was significant. No doubt, Senator O'Sullivan, you return to Australia with an even greater awareness than you had heretofore of the importance of these issues. As you know, Senator, the Australian government—with the support, I should say, of the opposition—take these issues extremely seriously, and that is why we have moved on several fronts to put Australia on the best possible footing to protect our national security in an age of networked globalised terrorism.

I have spoken to this chamber before about the legislation that we have put into place, the additional resources we have given to our agencies and the administrative arrangements that we have put in place in order to address this problem, but let me take this opportunity to focus on the other important issue of regional cooperation. Since the Senate adjourned for Christmas I travelled to Jakarta with my junior minister, Mr Keenan, for the inaugural Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Council on Law and Security, where we met with our counterpart ministers: His Excellency Luhut Panjaitan, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs in the Indonesian government, and His Excellency Yasonna Laoly, the Indonesian Minister for Law and Human Rights. We inaugurated a higher level of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Australia in relation to national security and counter-terrorism than has ever existed before. It was an extremely successful and an extremely consequential meeting.

2:07 pm

Photo of Barry O'SullivanBarry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Thank you for that, Senator Brandis. How will the promotion of regional cooperation strengthen Australia's national security?

Photo of George BrandisGeorge Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | | Hansard source

Well, Senator O'Sullivan, it will strengthen Australia's national security by enabling regional governments to work more closely together, to share more intelligence, to share more operational experience, to on occasion exchange operational personnel to deal with this problem.

I should say that at the inaugural ministerial council on law and security we resolved to constitute that body on a permanent basis, and the second meeting of the ministerial council will take place in Sydney towards the middle of this year. I should also report to you, Senator, that Minister Keenan has also recently travelled to Thailand, to Malaysia and to the Philippines for the same purpose: in order to deepen and strengthen our regional cooperation with the policing and intelligence authorities of those nations. This is a global problem, Senator O'Sullivan, but it is also a regional problem. (Time expired)

2:08 pm

Photo of Barry O'SullivanBarry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. What other measures, Senator Brandis, has the government taken to ensure our national safety?

2:09 pm

Photo of George BrandisGeorge Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | | Hansard source

Well, Senator O'Sullivan, I have told you about the regional measures, which have taken the level of regional cooperation to an unprecedentedly high level. But, of course, there are domestic arrangements as well.

Since August of 2014 the government has invested an additional $1.3 billion to support Australia's efforts in combating terrorism, including $450 million in the 2015-16 budget to strengthen intelligence capabilities and to counter extremist messaging. That includes $296 million to strengthen the capabilities of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, including by updating its IT systems; $22 million to counter terrorist lies and propaganda online; and $131 million to assist telecommunications providers to upgrade their systems to enable them to retain metadata for two years. This government has done and will continue on every front to do what it needs to do to keep Australians safe. (Time expired)