Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to commend the Prime Minister for his passionate statement to the House on Iraq and Syria. I also praised the crucial work the Australian Defence Force is doing, along with other nations, to take a stand against the evil so-called 'Islamic State'.

Australia is working with the United States of America, Britain and France—at the invitation of the Iraqi government—to assist with humanitarian air drops and to help with logistical support, like delivering military equipment to Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State extremists.

We are morally obliged to assist the humanitarian needs of these persecuted people and it is in Australia's best interests to do so. In Australian newspapers we are seeing images of inconceivable evil—of children being made to hold severed heads, people being marched to their death and shot through the head and of people lying in pools of blood in city streets. We are seeing videos, like that overnight, of another journalist being murdered by Islamic State radicals.

I cannot imagine going through this terror, let alone seeing my family, friends or neighbours running for their lives. But there are people—like the tens of thousands of Christians and people from the ancient Yazidi minority—who are being forced out of their homes and into hiding in the mountains in the Kurdish region. They are in fear of their lives—terrorised by Islamic State extremists, who know no mercy. The Islamic State wants to wipe these people out. The women are being used as sexual slaves and the men are murdered on the spot—this is genocide and it is evil. These extremists conveniently and incorrectly use their Muslim belief to satisfy their own twisted urges of rape and murder.

I support the government's decision to provide humanitarian aid, because no-one should be subjected to the horror that is happening now. But this horror—this terrorism—is spreading. Previously, it has spread to the US with the destruction of the World Trade Center; we witnessed the London bombings and the Bali bombings; and now, about 60 of our own Australian citizens are fighting with Islamic State across Iraq and Syria.

As the Prime Minister said, the government is boosting counterterrorism funding by $630 million and updating our laws so they keep pace with evolving technologies and the developing threat. Over the weekend the Prime Minister confirmed that these resources will assist the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Office of National Assessment and the Australian Customs and Boarder Protection Service. The Prime Minister also confirmed that biometric screening is being rolled out and installed at all our international airports, and that the monitoring of the national security watch list will be boosted by the border force counter-terrorism units.

Yesterday in question time I asked the Minister for Justice how the additional funding for the Australian Crime Commission will assist in the fight against home-grown terrorism. He outlined how the range of measures were designed to tackle home-grown terrorism. I also support this governments new national security laws that will strengthen our ability to arrest, prosecute and jail returning foreign fighters.

Terrorism and extremists like Islamic State are not problems restricted to the Middle East. It has become our problem because it is affecting our way of life. Tougher antiterrorism laws mean data needs to be collected—our emails, phone calls and extra security at everything from airports to sporting matches.

I believe we must stay our course in defeating extremists like Islamic State, because terrorism and extremism cannot be fought with passive acts of humanitarianism. We have to be prepared, we have to be united and we have to understand that the threat is not mainstream religion—it is extremism that knows no bounds. These terrorists—these extremists—despise us for how we live. They have no freedom, no democracy and no unity. We do, and I am glad that we do. They are the strongest things a civilisation can have.

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