Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My fellow Australians, make no mistake: we are under attack. The despotic Iranian regime of terror is a blight on the world. I welcome the removal of their ambassador and the listing of the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as terrorists. It is the duty of every patriot in this Senate and the other place to protect Australians. There is no higher calling for our being here.

If I am to be told that I am politicising an issue for trying to keep Australians safe by any means necessary, so be it. That will not stop anyone on this side of the chamber from pushing for the government to act to protect Jewish Australians or indeed any Australian. The coalition has long called for that protection. The government failed to act on its own advice. Senator Chandler's work years ago would have likely caused the Iranian government pause. It would have sent that regime a message that Australia takes Iranian human rights abuses seriously.

Two Iranian directed attacks happened in Melbourne, but in Sydney I am, sadly, no stranger to also seeing antisemitism on our streets. Synagogues and Jewish homes have been attacked in my hometown. These may also have been directed by Iran, which, at that time, had never had so much as a demarche, even after funding and directing Hamas to attack Israel. That attack killed an Australian. She will never be forgotten.

What we can do now is make sure this doesn't happen again. The government have said they take a considered approach. That approach has taken too long. To disrupt these attacks before they can take place, we must fund staff and unleash the full capacity of our intelligence services.

I implore the government to take a proactive approach to national security and no longer draw the arbitrary distinction between security and foreign intelligence that hampers our agencies behind red tape and illogical administrative barriers. This government loves red tape, and some isn't as obvious as it is in building houses or environmental impacts. Red tape that ties up our national security agencies with no discernible transparency or operational goal is even more harmful.

The national security capabilities exist to better protect Australians, and these capabilities are held back by policy that, with the stroke of the pen, could make sure that no other foreign power can so easily harm our community. I have called for a comprehensive national security strategy, and this strategy will also examine the better use of our intelligence services in an Australian version of the UK's highly successful National Technical Assistance Centre.

The national intelligence community ensures we are forearmed and forewarned, and the coalition invested heavily in the community for that very purpose. That investment needs to be continued and accelerated. Labor asked the coalition not to politicise this issue. I ask those in government to not politicise this advice just because it comes from over here.

I end by thanking the men and women of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Signals Directorate for the tireless work they do to protect us every day. Their expertise is an inspiration. We owe them every advantage we can muster to get the job done.