Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have listened carefully to the Australian Labor Party’s arguments. When it comes to terrorism they are weak, they are indecisive, there is a true lack of knowledge, there is a lack of leadership and there is a lack of commitment. Apart from that, they are doing a great job! What I would first like to discuss is their weakness in this area.

What I have seen since being a member of parliament is that every time terrorism or security or drug related issues come up the Labor Party enjoys ripping the guts out of the legislation to make it as weak as possible, even offering ridiculous suggestions. One of the classic ones I heard related to the telephone intercept legislation, which would help law enforcement agencies, in the case of terrorism or drug trafficking, by allowing police to tap the phones of a third party. One suggestion by a Labor Party member was that they should alert the person whose phone is to be intercepted so that they can notify their friends. That is the dumbest piece of security advice I have heard.

We can also look at what has happened recently. All last week’s migration bill—which the Labor Party opposed—was about was securing our borders. This government’s No. 1 responsibility is the protection of its citizens. The situation, which the Labor Party supported, of allowing people to be processed on Australian shores rather than offshore is obviously a worst-case scenario for our country’s security. From looking at the latest potential terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom, we can see that one of the persons charged was a mother. Therefore we have to get out of our heads that the only people who get involved in terrorist attacks are males. We have seen the same thing happen with suicide bombing attacks in Israel.

The Australian public also realise that one of our greatest strengths is the war against terrorism. In the latest Australian Newspoll for 14 to 16 July, Mr Howard’s total support for his way of handling national security and terrorism related issues was 56 per cent, Mr Beazley’s was 25 per cent and, going back to Latham’s days, it was 31 per cent. I have heard the member for Melbourne Ports and the member for Brisbane say that we need a minister in charge of homeland security. We have got that person: he is the Prime Minister of this country. His No. 1 priority is the security of this nation. He is doing a fantastic job.

I have also seen a number of issues raised today by the member for Brisbane with regard to the restricted area access. This was a construction site. It is not like we had people going there planning terrorist attacks. I do take the member’s point though—everything needs to be done to make sure we have the best security possible, but let us get real about it: this was not a life or death situation.

We should also look at the arguments about regional airports. We heard the Minister for Transport and Regional Services say today that only four per cent of travellers use regional airports. The cost of upgrading security would be in the vicinity of $400 million. I am not sure if the Labor Party is actually suggesting this—and this is what greatly interests me. If it is suggesting this, and if it is going to ignore intelligence—which is the way we should counter terrorism—it should also look at having police and major security at every train station and every bus stop. We all know that is totally impracticable; therefore, we must rely on the intelligence we are receiving.

Let us have a look at the figures on ASICs. It is reported that 380 ASICs are lost or missing. Obviously, we hate to see that happen, but more than 100,000 cards have been issued. We also have the position of Inspector of Transport Security. We cannot have only one person in this country with the overall responsibility of being on the ground all the time, and that is why we have spent $700 million to upgrade law enforcement agencies and to assist with Customs and the AFP. They are our people on the ground; they are the ones doing the hard yards.

To find out how crucially Labor looks at this issue, I looked through Hansard for the year that I have been a member. I believe the shadow minister for homeland security has asked questions only on aviation security, and that was in the last two days. If the Australian Labor Party want to get serious about aviation security they should get their act together and bring it to question time rather than some of the ridiculous questions they raise. It is vitally important that we make sure this is a major issue which is being addressed, and the Australian Labor Party need to get serious about it.

So what has the government done? The government has spent a lot of money on aviation security. The major thing we need to remember is that this is for risk based security outcomes. We have 187 airports in Australia, up from 38 under the previous regime, and the Australian government is working very hard to ensure that all security is upgraded. On international flights, 100 per cent of luggage is checked. That is contrary to the Australian Labor Party’s statement that that is not taking place. Since September 11, 2001, the government has invested $1.2 billion in additional aviation security measures. There have been 100,000 ASICs issued, with photo ID and police background checks. We have introduced a unified policing model at a cost of $800 million. ASIO funding has been doubled since September 11. There are air security officers on selected flights. There are hardened cockpit doors on all jet RPT aircraft of 30 seats or more. The Australian government used an expert, Sir John Wheeler, to look at our security measures.

I would like to see what would happen today if the Australian Labor Party were in charge of the federal government. First of all, we should look at what the state governments do when it comes to security. One of my biggest criticisms of the state Labor governments is the lack of data exchange—that is, police forces do not pass information from their databases to other states. We had the ridiculous situation of Cornelia Rau. She was a missing person in one state. Her correct name was checked in another state, but it did not match up. My greatest concern is having crazy situations like the high school teacher in Queensland who used false identification to purchase 53 kilograms of Powergel explosive—equivalent to 10 times what was used in the London bombings. It is the responsibility of the state Labor government to make sure that proper identification checks are done on people who buy chemicals and explosives and who receive a photo ID. In Melbourne and Sydney, in November last year, people were purchasing chemicals. With proper identification checks, the chemical manufacturers will be aware of these people and the police can immediately be notified. The police can then do a check and they may find that the person is connected to a terrorist organisation. At the same time, we will not have people using false identification to buy 53 kilograms of explosives.

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