Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Braddon for his question and for his service to our country in our defence forces, and I thank all those members of this House who have served in our defence forces and indeed continue to serve as reservists.

The first responsibility of a federal government is always to protect and defend Australia, its people and our interests. This government has lived up to that responsibility, most recently again equipping and focusing our defence forces with the Defence Strategic Update, following on from the white paper, and, importantly, ensuring that the resources are there to back in the plans and the focus of those plans, the design to keep Australia safe, working in alignment, shaping our region together with our partners and so many others, to ensure that we can keep Australians safe; to ensure that we can protect Australia against the increasing threat of cyberattacks; to further strengthen our foreign investment rules to ensure that Australia's integrity is maintained throughout our assets and, in particular, the critical infrastructure assets that are so important to Australia's security; to strengthen the disaster preparedness of our nation, our resilience to drought, fire, flood and cyclone; and to ensure that we counter foreign interference in this country, including in our university sector.

Today I announced, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the Australia's Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Bill 2020 will be brought into this place. That foreign relations bill will protect and promote Australia's national interest and ensure that Australia has a federal government, a national government, that cannot be undermined through the efforts of any nation that would seek to undermine Australia's foreign affairs position by dealing with subnational governments. There is only one sovereignty in Australia, and that is what we share as Australians. At times such as these, as we deal with the many threats that are without—and indeed those that are present within, when it comes to disaster or pandemic or other issues that can undermine our security and add to the challenges that Australians face—it is incredibly important that we don't retreat into provincialism. It's important that we focus, very united together as a country, on what makes us strong, and that is when six states came together to form Australia as a federated nation. Alfred Deakin got it right. Australia, he said, is one and indivisible. That's how we should present to the world when it comes to our foreign relations, and that's how we should conduct ourselves within.

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