Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The other side offered me the opportunity to second the motion, but I don't agree with the whole motion, and I'll explain that shortly. It's a bit hard to swallow from a mob that sold our northern port to a Chinese company linked to the CCP and got rid of the cyber minister. But the essence of what I want to say is that it has got to be, importantly, bipartisan. Foreign interference, whether it be cyber intrusions, old-fashioned espionage or hybrid tactics like foreign governments putting pressure on Australian communities, is an escalating threat. Recently we've seen reports of Iranian Australians, among other communities, being bullied by the Iranian regime. The government is deeply concerned by reports of families and protesters being harassed and intimidated. The right to peaceful protest is at the heart of Australia's democracy, and we've relayed our concerns about foreign interference directly to the Iranian regime in no uncertain terms with a bit of good old-fashioned straight talking. The Minister for Home Affairs has called out Iran and provided details of instances of foreign interference in Australia by the Iranian regime, and it's clear from talking to some of our newer members—first-termers—from both sides of the parliament, that there are real and present concerns that some of them hold about foreign interference.

The minister also met with members of the Iranian community on 15 February, alongside the Attorney-General and Minister Giles, to discuss foreign interference and action the Australian government was taking to combat it. The multiagency Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce leads the operational response to the espionage and foreign interference threat and works to identify, investigate and disrupt attempts and acts of foreign interference. The Australian government's message to anyone involved in such activities is this: our foreign interference laws are unequivocal, our sovereignty is sacrosanct, and you will fail. Our message to the Iranian community in Australia is this: you have a right to protest, you have a right to your vote if you're a citizen of this country, and we stand with you. We will defend our democracy and people's right to protest and express their views within Australia. If you have experienced intimidation or interference, you can report this to the National Security Hotline, to the Australian Federal Police or to your local state or territory police.

We face similarly growing threats from cyber actors, be they state backed criminals or other actors. In September and October last year, Australia experienced the two worst cyberattacks in our history within three weeks of each other. The Optus and Medibank cyberattacks were terrible events that affected millions of Australians. Then the National Australia Bank told Australians that they were subject to 50 million attempted cyberattacks a month. And the ATO is subject to three million cyberattacks a month. This threat is huge, it's relentless and it's getting bigger. Our government has committed and is resolved to fix this, but it's going to take time. Better cybersecurity for Australia means all businesses and citizens changing how they engage with the internet. We need to prepare for more major cyberattacks over the coming years as we undertake this important work. I just want to give a shout-out to all those Australian cyberwarriors out there—it doesn't matter what type of uniform or civilian clothing they're wearing—for the work that they are doing right now to defend our nation, our government and our private sector from these attacks.

Those opposite like to boast, as in this motion, that they were the best in the world on cybersecurity, but the truth is, deep down, in places they don't talk about at parties, they left our nation vulnerable. We did not do the work nationally, over the last decade, to help us prepare for the challenge we now face. Prime Minister Morrison's decision to abolish the cybersecurity ministry when he came to office was an absolute shocker.

In the very brief time remaining to me, I will talk about what has been done since the Albanese Labor government was elected. For the first time, Australia will punch back at the hackers through a collaboration between the Australian Federal Police and the ASD. It's one of many, many measures that we have taken since coming to government. We will not accept foreign interference by anyone.

See this speech in context