Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge that, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I intend to be more constructive on the bill from here. I said that the influence of an emboldened Iran may come into South-East Asia. We know that already in Australia there are those who have travelled overseas to undertake terrorist training through Yemen. Last year I referred to some 55 people who are unaccounted for, having gone through Yemen, and who are suspected of being involved with terrorist training. An Australian citizen who is going to travel overseas for that sort of training, might well think involvement with the regime in Iran or its agents would be in their best interests and would further the pursuit of their objectives. When we look at the home-grown terrorist concerns within this country, we need to be mindful that the geopolitical influences of emerging nuclear powers might well be able to influence to some degree inside Australia as well.

As the member for Cook said earlier in his contribution on this bill—and I certainly agree with this—we need to be very careful about the way parallel societies could exist in Australia under the guise of cultural identity. I know that maintenance of a person's culture from their homeland is an important thing and it gives strength to people as they come to adjust and integrate into Australia. When we have places, countries, states and non-state players out there in the world seeking to take advantage of those who might feel disaffected or detached from Western liberal societies then we do need to think about that and we do need to think about making sure those ethnic or religious groups in Australia—

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