Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

():  I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that Australia and the world face the gravest geopolitical instability since the end of World War II;

(2) recalls that foreign interference remains the greatest immediate threat to Australia's sovereignty and security;

(3) notes:

(a) that China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and the so-called axis of resistance continues to perpetrate malicious activities against critical infrastructure, public and private companies, agencies and democratic institutions across the world, including in Australia; and

(b) with concern that despite the urgent national security threats facing the nation, the Government has failed to:

(i) develop and deliver space defence and industry strategy, instead slashing funding for critical programs and global partnerships;

(ii) develop and deliver a comprehensive border security strategy, instead presiding over the worst border crisis since it was last in government;

(iii) engage industry to develop and deliver a strategy to secure and strengthen the supply of fuel, food, water, pharmaceuticals, industrial materials and critical minerals; and

(iv) quickly and adequately address the risks and opportunities associated with artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and other emerging technologies aligned with our Australia-United Kingdom-United States pillars;

(4) calls on the Government to expeditiously develop and implement a comprehensive national security strategy which:

(a) engages all levels of government, all areas of the public and private sector, and all members of the public through consultation and review;

(b) addresses the issues of security in food, water, fuel, pharmaceuticals, industrial materials, critical minerals, and technology;

(c) addresses the issues of skilled workforce development and recruitment, digital literacy and online safety, cyber security, and resilience in homes, businesses, communities, agencies and institutions;

(d) addresses issues highlighted in the broad and public consultation process and delineated in a national security strategy consultation paper and roadmap; and

(e) commences no later than January 2027; and

(5) further acknowledges and pays tribute to the late Senator Jim Molan AO DSC for his significant work on, and advocacy for, a 'grand strategy' or 'nation security strategy' to this end.

There is no doubt that we are now living in a world which has not seen this sort of geopolitical instability since the end of the Second World War. I don't think there is too much doubt about that from anybody. The late, great Senator Jim Molan said this:

Australia is operating in a strategy-free environment. Even more than tanks and ships and planes, Australia needs a strategy and a government that can deliver it.

I want to pay tribute to the late, great Jim Molan, who worked so assiduously in his public life as a parliamentarian and long before it. I specifically note the work he did to bring national attention to the need for a national security strategy.

We know from the threat assessments of Director-General of Security of ASIO Mike Burgess in February this year and last year that foreign interference and espionage have become the No. 1 threat in this country, more so than even terrorism. Foreign interference, foreign interference and espionage are being done on our shores and from offshore, attacking us as we speak. Our critical infrastructure as a nation and the vital businesses that provide that to Australians are under constant attack from governments, such as the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, North Korea and Iran, at unprecedented rates. These countries and others are constantly testing our capability to defend the critical infrastructure that we have in this country.

As Jim has talked about in the past, there's no point having a wonderful defence strategy if you don't have an overarching national security strategy. A national defence strategy is just one element of a national security strategy. In this day and age, when we are being attacked particularly from a cyber perspective, we need to have that overall, encompassing, whole-of-society approach. We need to ensure that our ADF is at its best to be able to defend this nation, and we need to be able to defend all of our critical infrastructure and private industry that provides defence manufacturing. These things are critical.

Sadly, we know that this government is asleep at the wheel in relation to defence. They scrapped the $1 billion National Space Mission for Earth Observation. They scrapped it. When I was in the US last year, there were US officials coming up to me and speaking to me off the record, absolutely incredulous as to why this Labor government would scrap the construction of four satellites. The first time Australia would have that sort of capability is now dead. This government has overseen $80 billion in cuts to defence. They are absolutely asleep at the wheel when it comes to border security. There is a lot more to border security than just having Border Force, and this government clearly is asleep at the wheel, as we've seen with the NZYQ case, which involved hundreds of people being released into the community. Of course, we're now seeing people coming from Gaza without appropriate security checks.

This government needs to get cracking on AUKUS pillar II to increase the technology that comes from that. It needs to ensure that our food, our fuel and our skilled workforce have the sort of security that would only come from an all-encompassing, community-wide national security strategy that involves state and local governments across the country. Only a national government can provide that sort of leadership. Sadly, this lot are asleep at the wheel. I implore the government to look very seriously at this. It's an important project. It's something that Jim Molan pushed for a long time and it's something that I have been pushing for a long time.

See this speech in context