Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously these are very difficult times and very sad times, and nobody in this building is enjoying taking the tough measures that have been introduced over recent days. But, as a government and as our nation's representatives, we can make no apology for putting the safety of Australians first.

In many ways, the latest wave of terrorism has its origins in the horrific attacks on America in September 2001. The four tragic events that made up the sum total of what we now know as 9/11 sparked a chain of events that has left a stain of blood across the globe. The message that has come out of 9/11 and its tragic aftermath is that the world has zero tolerance for terrorism, has zero tolerance for the type of brutality that took thousands of lives that day and has zero tolerance for the hate and malevolence that drive some people to commit acts of barbarism against their fellow citizens.

It is in the interest of ordinary Australians that the government has taken steps to enhance our national security. The anti-terror raids in Brisbane and Sydney and the events in Victoria over the past week remind us all that some in the community are driven by zealotry, fuelled by venom and motivated by hate. The stabbing of two law enforcement officers last week has reinforced that, while the tragic events in the Middle East are thousands of kilometres from us, their impacts reverberate right here in Australia.

Let us not forget that the people who are involved in these activities—in the brutal killings in Syria and Iraq or the plots to take innocent lives here—are at heart violent men with criminal backgrounds and no real future in regular society. I refer, for instance, to the man who appears to be the ringleader of Australians fighting with ISIL, known these days as Mohammad Baryalei, who was born in Afghanistan and who was a babe in arms when his parents fled the country after the 1979 Soviet invasion. According to an excellent report on the ABC program 7.30 this week, Baryalei grew up in north-western Sydney, was booted out of home by his father and had a troubled history of drug abuse, mental illness and family violence. This is the same man who police believe issued the instruction to Mr Azari, the Sydney man arrested a fortnight ago for plotting to kidnap and kill an ordinary Australian citizen and film the execution.

Another former Australian who has also found a niche for himself in the Middle East after years of non-achievement in Australia is Khaled Sharrouf, who was filmed holding severed heads of Iraqi soldiers. Again, according to another report on 7:30, Sharrouf, who had really been jailed for terrorism offences in Australia, had been diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia, most likely the result of years of drug abuse including the use of LSD, ecstasy and amphetamines.

I offer up these two case studies not in any way to diminish the actions of these and other men like them but to make the point that, whether they be in Australia or elsewhere, they are criminals with no regard for the impact of their actions to others and little ability to exist within the confines of generally accepted behaviour. Instead, these weak and appalling people have taken the easy way out and along the way have fallen in with a mob that is as demented as it is bloodthirsty. But they will find that their brutal lives will end up either in an equally brutal death or, preferably, in an extremely long stretch in an Australian prison. As I said last week when I spoke in support of the Prime Minister's motion, these people are criminals—it is as simple as that. These people represent nobody. They stand for nothing. They have a blood lust that is impossible to comprehend until it is placed against a backdrop of drug use, a history of violence and a general failure to achieve both in their younger years and then as adults in broader society.

The tougher measures that we debated in the House yesterday are designed to keep Australians safe from the malice these people wish to cultivate and spread. This is the first of three tranches of national security legislation that the government is producing to ensure that all Australians are safe. The deployment of 800 police officers and security agents in Sydney and Brisbane last week to execute search warrants as part of an antiterrorism investigation sends out a very clear message of intent. This message was reaffirmed this week when more than 100 police officers carried out raids in Melbourne. The provision of more than half a billion dollars to fund the Australian Federal Police, Customs and Border Protection, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, and the Office of National Assessments buttresses our legislative measures. I want to say again: the foreign fighters involved with ISIL or supporting this death cult here at home are brutal, bloodthirsty criminals, and this government will take every single step it can to prevent them from threatening the safety and security of ordinary Australians who are just going about their daily lives.

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