Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

In light of last night's occurrence in Ottawa, I would like to make a statement to the House. I am sure you were all shocked to hear of the serious incident in Ottawa, Canada overnight. Of significant concern to me as the Speaker is the fact that the parliament building was attacked, with shots being fired within their precinct. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the Canadian soldier who was killed as a result of this attack, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery. While details of the attack are still emerging, it is clear that the Canadian parliament building was impacted and that a gunman made it inside the building.

Several weeks ago we enhanced the security arrangements around the parliament to protect us against threats of this very nature. It is important to reassure you all that the security arrangements in the precinct are constantly under assessment, and that the additional measures that we have implemented recently, including enhanced perimeter controls and armed response capability, have been designed to mitigate against threats of the type that occurred overnight. You will notice some increase in the security arrangements this morning. You will also note that we already have a significant armed presence guarding the building, which has recently been boosted with the addition of long-armed weaponry.

Our parliament and its perimeter are very different to the design of the Canadian parliament, and we have appropriate measures to prevent such an attack from succeeding here. We have a number of layers of security measures designed to protect building occupants. The images showing members taking action and barricading themselves into the chamber in Canada are of concern. The range of armed response, security and lockdown arrangements that we have in place means that this type of action will not be necessary here. I am sure you understand that I will not go into details of these measures.

It is timely to remind ourselves and your staff to be vigilant and report any suspicious behaviour to parliamentary security staff. As a result of the enhanced security arrangements that we already have put in place, the President and I are confident, based on security agency advice, that the parliament is a safe environment. I thank members for their concern about these issues and their willingness to report anything that they see.

See this speech in context