Robert McClelland (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and I note his longstanding interest in matters of security generally, certainly in policing. In 2008 the Commonwealth government and the state and territory governments around Australia reached an agreement to properly assess, monitor and control chemicals of security concern. There is no doubt that chemicals continue to be sought by terrorists to conduct attacks with the potential to cause significant harm to Australians and Australian interests. There have been a number of attacks over the past few years and in the recent budget the government allocated $10 million over four years to continue the important work of managing that risk.

The Australian government is actively working with the states and territories, as I have indicated, to reduce the risks from chemicals of security concern. My department has already assessed the security risks of several of the highest threat chemicals and will continue to assess further chemicals of potential interest to terrorists. I and the Minister for Home Affairs were provided with a demonstration where readily available chemicals were mixed with readily available supermarket materials to produce a highly explosive device. So these are very, very serious.

As I have said, work is underway with the states and territories, and also industry, which I should acknowledge here is being tremendously cooperative, to identify measures to treat the risk identified from some of these chemicals. Governments will continue to consult widely to decide how best to treat identified risks from chemicals of security concerns. That 2008 agreement I referred to was to establish a chemical security management framework which outlines the agreed approach by all levels of government.

The chemicals security area in the Attorney-General's Department is responsible for coordinating the implementation of that national framework, and the department is progressing that work by developing chemicals security policy and supporting industry reference in government advisory groups raising community and industry awareness of the risks posed by chemicals of security concern and mapping supply chains for identified chemicals for security concern and assessing the risk of each such supply node. In accordance with that Council of Australian Governments report, initial priority has been given to precursors to homemade explosives and chemicals transported and/or stored in bulk. Security risk assessments have been finalised for hydrogen peroxide, nitric acid, sodium chlorate, potassium chlorate, sodium perchlorate, potassium perchlorate, ammonium perchlorate, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, nitromethane and sodium azide. The public awareness campaign aims to inform and build vigilance across the target audience to assist jurisdictional police and security agencies in deterring and also detecting the potential use of these chemicals. It is intended to be a low-key but informative campaign with a focus on educating and fostering relationships with industry to assist them in strengthening their security arrangements and communicating broadly with the community.

The Australian governments have agreed to the publication of the list of identified chemicals of security concern. That list, developed by Australian governments in consultation with industry and informed by data from the Australian intelligence community, represents those chemicals that can be used by terrorists to produce an improvised explosive device or toxic weapon. Publishing this list is aimed at helping industry and the community to be more informed and vigilant. If any person has a security concern about the inappropriate use of chemicals, they should call the National Security Hotline on 1800123400 to report their concern.

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