Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The government’s response to the terrorist threat is encapsulated in four categories: analysis, protection, response and resilience. I was dealing with the question of analysis, which goes to the operation of our intelligence agencies. Protection concerns what we do to enhance, for example, the security domain at our airports and also other specific measures which we referred to earlier today. Response deals with having robust legal frameworks and enforcement agencies to assist in preventing terrorist attacks from taking place or dealing with them in the event that they do. On resilience, Australia’s strong and resilient community has a key role to play in arresting the development of violent extremism and terrorism on the home front.

Today, with the release of the white paper, the government has committed itself to new measures in this respect. In a major strengthening of our measures in this regard, the government will invest $69 million over four years to introduce biometric checks for visa applications in around 10 countries. Under the new system people applying for a non-electronic visa in these countries will be required to present in person at a visa application centre to lodge their visa application and submit fingerprints and facial images. The government has also decided to establish a new multi-agency Counter-Terrorism Control Centre within ASIO to better coordinate our counterterrorism capabilities on the ground. These commitments today are in addition to the $200 million investment that we have made to strengthen aviation security.

As I said before, no government can guarantee that Australia will be free from the terrorist threat, but what we can do is take practical measures in order to reduce the threat, and that is what I have outlined to the House today. Home-grown terrorism is now a reality in Australia we must accept. We are advised by the agencies that home-grown terrorism in Australia is of increasing concern, and that is why we have announced the range of measures contained in today’s paper.

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