Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, recognise the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, for the critical role it plays in protecting Australia and all Australians from threats to their security. ASIO works tirelessly to protect Australians from politically motivated and communal violence through collecting intelligence, analysing and investigating terrorism threats, and providing advice to and working with partners to strengthen public safety and intervene to disrupt terrorist attacks.

The need for ASIO, and the government's support for ASIO, has never been stronger given Australia's terrorism threat level has remained at 'probable' since it was declared that in 2014. ASIO's director-general, Mike Burgess, stated to Senate estimates in May this year:

Australia's threat environment is complex, challenging and changing. In terms of threat to life, terrorism threat level remains at probable and unfortunately will do so for the foreseeable future. Right now ASIO is aware of multiple religiously motivated violent extremists who want to kill Australians.

He also noted:

At the same time our investigations in ideologically motivated violent extremism such as racists and nationalists are approaching 50 per cent of our priority counterterrorism onshore caseload.

The director-general's words should serve as a disturbing yet important reminder that Australia's national security should never be met with complacency and that action must be taken to support ASIO and our other national security agencies in their everyday efforts to protect Australia against people and organisations that seek to bring violence, chaos and disruption upon us. That is why the Morrison government is committed to supporting ASIO in its efforts to protect the country and the Australian people.

As announced in the budget, the government is giving ASIO unprecedented capability uplift by investing $1.3 billion over the next 10 years. This substantial commitment will allow ASIO to sustain its operations, enhance its capabilities to operate in a more complex threat environment, and respond to challenges posed by rapid technological change. Part of that money, which I particularly want to focus on, is the commitment of $945 million for current operations, building capability and the Enterprise Transformation Program. This funding will significantly enhance ASIO's ability to identify and respond to threats posed by more and more sophisticated threat actors, whether motivated by violent extremism or attempts at espionage and foreign interference.

There's a long list of measures that this funding will support, but, just to name a few, the funding will enable ASIO to keep up with the latest technology that Australia's adversaries are using to undermine our national security. It will allow ASIO to defeat encryption based methods of communication, which are currently being exploited by terrorists and spies in an effort to conceal their plans to commit attacks on Australian soil. The investment will also allow ASIO to extract critical intelligence from large and complex data sets to connect the dots between that information, and more reliably identify potential threat indicators. It will accelerate ASIO's operational responses. And it will enable ASIO to promptly deliver detailed advice to government, industry and other stakeholders to ensure security threats are taken care of as soon as they are identified.

At the core of the Morrison government there has always been a robust, unmatched commitment to ensuring the protection of all Australians. Through this unprecedented investment in ASIO over the next decade, the government is ensuring that ASIO will continue to evolve so that it can to out-imagine and outmanoeuvre sophisticated foreign adversaries, detect and disrupt violent extremists, and ultimately protect the Australian people. I also note that the government continues to ensure that the exercise of these powers by our security agencies is subject to strong and uncompromising oversight, including through the Inspector-General, the INSLM and the PJCIS.

Finally, I would like to take this time to thank the many dedicated men and women who work in ASIO for the important work they do each day to protect their country and fellow Australians. Working for ASIO, much like our other national security agencies, takes a huge amount of sacrifice and commitment. Without their continued dedication, the many freedoms we enjoy on a daily basis and the incredible way of life we have in this country simply wouldn't exist.

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