Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to address the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2005-2006 and the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2005-2006 and also the amendment moved by the member for Melbourne. I wish to speak about the government’s spending and lack of spending in vital areas. One is of major importance to my electorate and one is of vital importance to the country.

I draw attention to items under Appropriation Bill (No. 3) in respect of the appropriation to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry of $124 million including $104 million in structural adjustment payments for the fishing industry. There is $20 million for the Tasmanian hardwood timber industry. The Department of Defence gets $155.8 million, including $56.9 million for special task force groups to Afghanistan plus helicopters. The third item I would like to draw attention to is the Australian Federal Police: $54.6 million for airport-policing measures including community policing, $27.2 million; first response counter-terrorism in airports, $18.2 million; and airport investigation, $9.2 million. Why do I draw attention to these three items? I think these three items under this appropriation bill draw me to an area of glaring neglect. This government is failing us at home. It is neglecting our security at home by always thinking that it can provide our security by looking overseas.

We are fighting a senseless war abroad in Iraq, a war where the Australian government is funding both sides. We are funding our own troops, we had been funding the troops of the Iraqi government that we overthrew and we are also funding the insurgencies that are causing so much pain and grief over there through our continual kickbacks from the oil for food scandal. So, while we are off fighting senseless wars abroad, we have forgotten about our security at home, and this is no more glaringly obvious than what I have seen in Perth and will be seeing again in Broome tomorrow in respect of illegal fishing. Illegal fishing has become a blight on this country and on our community and the government seems to do nothing about it.

While this is going on, Labor has established a task force into marine and transport security to highlight the dangerous consequences of the Howard government’s failure to safeguard Australia’s infrastructure and borders. For the past 10 years, the Howard government has shown a complete disregard for transport and marine security. As a result, gaping holes have emerged along our borders, opening Australia up to the threat of trafficking, drug running, illegal fishing, communicable diseases and, of most concern, terrorist attacks. By failing to secure this nation’s borders and infrastructure, John Howard is putting Australian lives at risk. The coalition likes to walk the talk when it comes to national security, but it does not seem to be able to walk the walk. The task force that I am chairing will be travelling around Australia talking to communities about their concerns and we are also asking people to make submissions.

The Howard government has proved incapable of managing Australia’s transport and marine security. The damaging Wheeler review highlighted a culture of crime and lax security in Australian airports. Some 384 aviation security identity cards have been lost or stolen over the past two years alone. There is a dangerous shortage of surveillance measures at our regional airports. The position of Inspector of Transport Security has been in constant shambles and still has not been given the authority to undertake any form of investigation. Customs is underresourced and underfinanced, leaving Australia’s borders dangerously underpatrolled. More than 2.4 million parcels which entered the country last year were unscreened. Illegal fishing in Australian waters has more than doubled over the last year. It is estimated that around nine out of 10 boats go undetected. Aside from poisoning our economy and being an environmental threat, this is also a major quarantine risk.

To make matters worse, there is no national coordinated authority in charge of Australia’s various security agencies. Yet the Howard government refuses to adopt Labor’s policy of establishing a coastguard and a department of homeland security. The most concerning aspect of the Howard government’s neglect of our transport and marine security is the possibility of a terrorist attack. There is an urgent need to harden Australia’s infrastructure against such a threat. The line items in Appropriation Bill (No. 3) go very little way towards addressing these items. They do not in any way protect our borders at home. The measly $9.2 million being spent on airport security is of grave concern.

This is a government which has spent $66 million to get itself re-elected. It is a big spending government which has a habit of blowing taxpayers’ dollars on propaganda and advertising campaigns. There are no measures in these bills which will do anything to protect Australian borders. It is a big spending government which is more interested in blowing taxpayers’ dollars on propaganda and advertising than on border protection.

So far, as I have said, we have been to Perth and we will go to Broome and to One Arm Point, because we need to see first-hand what is happening—something this government is not doing. Illegal fishing has doubled over the past year. More than 25 illegal fishing boats have been captured in Australia’s waters already this year. But entire regions of Australia are left completely unpatrolled and, as a result, it is estimated that around 8,000 illegal fishing boats are going undetected each year. Only around one in 10 is being picked up. Many of these boats have actually had their equipment taken off them and then been sent on their merry way to go back to Indonesia, get more fishing equipment and come back to Australia.

There needs to be a greater sense of coordination between all levels of government on this. The Western Australian state government has been taking a great lead but is being frustrated by the lack in interest of, and coordination with, the federal government. Whilst the incompetent fisheries minister has gone and a new one has replaced him, we are yet to see the new minister, Senator Abetz, say anything about this issue. We have had the ludicrous situation whereby the member for Kalgoorlie had to fly to Tasmania to see the responsible minister to ask him to take an interest in his own portfolio.

If illegal fishing boats can get into Australia, what else can? The fact that there is no coastguard to patrol Australian waters is opening us up to the threat of trafficking, drug running and illegal fishing, as I have said. But, more importantly than this, we have now had sightings of individuals actually coming ashore up at One Arm Point where the trochus shell is harvested. I did not know what a trochus was before this exercise; I now do. It is a very large but very pretty snail, and the shell is used to make buttons for clothing. You learn wonderful things in this job every day.

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