Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The budget investment in the Home Affairs portfolio underscores our belief that a safer Australia is a stronger Australia. Our first priority is the safety and security of every Australian. We know that continued vigilance and an emphasis on national security is what will underpin economic growth following the pandemic.

Australia is a safe place to live and work. It's one of our strengths as we lead the world in post-COVID recovery, but we can't take anything for granted. That's why the 2021-22 budget provides an extra $2 billion to build an even more secure and resilient nation. This funding will boost national security, maintain our strong borders, improve emergency management, make our community safer and help protect our children from the monstrous crime of sexual exploitation. Other speakers in this debate will go into further detail on these.

With record funding for our national security agencies we will be better able to combat threats of terrorism, espionage and criminal gangs. We saw just last week the tremendous achievement of the Australian Federal Police's Operation Ironside in getting dangerous criminals, drugs and guns off our streets. Our government is determined to give our law enforcement and national security agencies the resources they need to tackle crime and to make our community safer, whether that's funding or new laws to ensure they can carry out their work. The 2020-21 budget provided a record funding boost to the AFP.

The centrepiece of this year's budget is a record $1.3 billion to boost ASIO's capabilities, and this of course will help secure our sovereign interests and counter the threat of foreign interference in an increasingly complex world. On that note, we're investing more than $40 million in delivering new reforms to protect Australia's critical infrastructure and secure their supply chains.

We're also tackling cybercrime and ensuring that security and trust are built into the foundations of Australia's growing digital economy. This is really where the nexus between security and our economic interests is obvious and critical. In an increasingly digital world, the threat of cybercrime has real economic implications, and that's why I've elevated the delivery of our $1.67 billion Cyber Security Strategy 2020 as a priority.

Our strong borders are more important than ever before, and we're continuing to invest in border protection with an extra $38 million for Operation Sovereign Borders and over $460 million to strengthen our immigration detention network. It's a little understood fact that the majority of people in immigration detention are those who have arrived legally and had their visas cancelled, normally because they've committed serious crime. The vast majority aren't people seeking asylum. In fact, more than 80 per cent of people in immigration detention have criminal records, so detaining them before they are deported is a very practical and necessary step to ensure both the integrity of our migration system and our community is kept safe.

When it comes to community safety, we're also tackling the monstrous crime of child abuse with close to $60 million for the Australian Federal Police for new frontline activities that will help protect children and further the great work being done at the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, which is doing world-leading work. Importantly, as part of our ongoing commitment to women's safety we're providing more funding to support refugee and migrant women, especially those at risk of domestic violence. Every Australian can be assured that with the investments in this year's budget, our government is focusing on what really matters: keeping Australians, our borders and our economy safe.

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