Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's threat environment is complex, challenging and changing. The member for Berowra notes these comments from the Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, in ASIO's annual report tabled last week, 'It is of vital importance that we have an honest conversation with the Australian people about the challenges facing Australia from malicious actors who would seek to undermine our democratic institutions and threaten our way of life.'

In response to the rapid deterioration of our strategic landscape, and the increasingly frequent and complex threats we face, the Morrison government has embarked on a series of landmark investments, initiatives and partnerships to enhance our national security and protect our national interests. One area of extreme concern is espionage and foreign interference, which ASIO states is 'poised to become Australia's principal security concern over the next five years'. ASIO has identified sophisticated and wideranging espionage and foreign interference attempts occurring on a daily basis. The threat is higher now than during the Cold War.

The Morrison government is giving ASIO an unprecedented capability uplift to address this, by enhancing operational ability to counter these complex threats and respond to rapid technological change. One particular area enduring sustained, concentrated threats is our critical infrastructure. Our energy, telecommunications, health care, banking, food and water all exist in the increasing spectrum of grey-zone targets in the current environment. That's why the Morrison government is introducing new legislation to urgently protect Australia's critical infrastructure from cyber infiltration and attack. We're investing $1.25 billion over 10 years to enhance ASIO's ability to connect the dots through a human-led data-driven technology-enabled approach to threat detection. We are empowering our national security agencies—including ASIO, the Australian Signals Directorate, Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Australian Federal Police and more—to deter and respond to the complex, challenging and changing threats Australia is facing today. This is not unique to Australia's critical infrastructure. In the Indo-Pacific, we see rapid military modernisation, increased foreign interference, cyberthreats, the proliferation of disinformation and overt economic coercion. These wide-ranging strategic challenges require wide-ranging strategic responses. We are exercising multiple layers to strengthen our national security to keep Australians safe.

The Morrison government is further enhancing our ability to shape our environment, deter actions against our interests and, if required, respond with force by enhancing our relationships with trusted, like-minded partners. The establishment of a new trilateral security partnership with the United Kingdom and the United States, AUKUS, and the elevation of the Quad with India, Japan and the United States are testament to this. As the chair of the Australia-United States Parliamentary Friendship Group, I welcome this momentous step towards the interoperability between our great friend and ally at a bilateral level and within these significant multilateral partnerships. As the Prime Minister said in the first in-person meeting of Quad leaders in Washington DC:

We stand here, together, in the Indo-Pacific region, a region that we wish to be always be free from coercion, where the sovereign rights of all nations are respected and where disputes are settled peacefully and [in]accordance with international law.

Australia stands up for our values, especially in the face of adversity. We have shown this through the pandemic. From the beginning, Australia showed leadership leading the call on the international stage for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 that has wreaked havoc around the world, decimating lives and livelihoods. Australians have stood up each and every day, keeping each other safe and demonstrating our resilience as a nation. Former US ambassador to Australia, Arthur B Culvahouse Jr, recently applauded Australia for standing up for its sovereign right to protect the integrity of its communications, political processes and government deliberations in the face of what Ambassador Culvahouse calls 'unabashed economic coercion from the Chinese Communist Party'. I worked closely with Ambassador Culvahouse during his tenure through my role as chair of the Australia-United States Parliamentary Friendship Group, and I agree with his assessment of Australia's resilience.

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