Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (AFP Powers and Other Matters) Bill 2022 is not controversial. It's a bill that's been brought to the House previously by our government, and it has bipartisan support as we move forward. It's noncontroversial because it enacts a sunset clause in the legislation. Currently, our threat level is probable, and, while I believe that none of the measures contained in this bill have been acted on previously, it's a matter of course that we arm our AFP, our brave personnel, with the instruments that they require to be effective in the art of counterterrorism.

We will hear a number of contributions today. But in the small amount of time that I have, I want to expand on a recent trip. I was very fortunate to be able to travel to Israel, a country that doesn't enjoy the relaxed risk weighting that we have in our country. While we were in Israel—it was only a couple of weeks ago—we had the opportunity to catch up with the Palestinian Prime Minister and to get a sense of the constant threat that they live under and how present terrorism is in their community. Once we got through the airport, we were put into the transport to our hotel. The first realisation I had that, 'Oh my God, this is about to get real,' was when the person who opened the door in the hotel—the concierge or bellboy—was armed with a nine-millimetre Glock to take my bags up to the hotel for me. I did have a quick conversation with him, defending our nation when he made the assumption that we were all Americans. I said, 'No, we're Australians.' He said, 'Where are you from?' I didn't think he would know where Boonah was, so I said the closest large community to me, the Gold Coast. He said, 'Oh, party city!' I said: 'Yes. You know the Gold Coast?' He said: 'Yes. I was in Australia recently. I went to Canberra.' He had no idea what my job was. I said, 'My job takes me to Canberra periodically.' He said, 'Ah, Canberra—the most boring place in Australia!'

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