Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Minister, what is the latest information on the government’s commitment to increase the core capability of the Australian Federal Police?

Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. It was just a few months ago that a ceremony was held in Sydney to mark the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, an event often described as the first act of terrorism on Australian soil. Images of that time shocked the nation—the scene of devastation that left three dead and a public in disbelief that it could happen here. Following the bombing, former commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Sir Robert Mark was engaged to report on Australia’s national policing needs, and the result was the formation of the AFP in 1979. There is an often quoted statement from the Mark report:

Arrangements for the governance of States which were adequate for trade, public order and the social requirements of the nineteenth century are not appropriate for dealing with serious wrongdoing which transcends State jurisdictions and affects the interest of the Commonwealth as a whole; terrorism, narcotics, and organised crime being perhaps the three most obvious examples ... There is today an undoubted need for one federal agency to coordinate the efforts of all police forces against interstate crime and terrorism.

On the AFP’s first day of operation, drug liaison officers were attached to Australian embassies in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, London and Wellington. Officers were also attached to Interpol and Scotland Yard. And, a month later, the AFP’s first headquarters opened in Canberra. Australian peacekeeping duties in Cyprus became the sole responsibility of the AFP, marking the beginning of its International Deployment Group, which has now got 385 people deployed in eight countries.

Over the past few years, against the backdrop of September 11 and the Bali bombings, the AFP has had to adapt. Like all law enforcement agencies, it has had its share of fierce criticism, but it is fair to say that a lot of the AFP’s quite extraordinary work and success has often gone unnoticed and little reported. For instance, after the 2002 Bali bombings, the AFP with Indonesian police coordinated identification of more than 200 victims, and it did the same in 2005 at the time of the tsunami and after the plane crash in Yogyakarta where officers had to identify two of their colleagues. In 2002, there was no model for disaster victim identification. Today, the process developed by the AFP, learnt by trial and error and dedication, is contributing with Interpol to the development of an international benchmark.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Under standing order 75 and under standing orders governing ministerial statements, this is clearly a ministerial statement. I would be happy to respond to it as the shadow minister responsible for the AFP. The Minister for Home Affairs should give this as a ministerial statement, and I will quite properly give a speech about the AFP—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member will resume his seat. The question was in order and the response is in order.

Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I should say that the AFP has also cemented its reputation in Asia through the operation of the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation, known as JCLEC, which aims to improve counterterrorism capabilities in the region. Since 2005, more than 2,000 participants from 33 countries have been trained at JCLEC in intelligence, forensics and other disciplines.

This year is also the 30th anniversary of the AFP’s world-class Australian Bomb Data Centre. That bomb centre has provided early advice in the event of very significant overseas incidents, not least when it identified the explosives used in the London Underground bombing—information which informed key agencies in the United Kingdom.

Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. I heard the question asked, and it was asking what the government was going to do in the future about the Federal Police, about which I would be most interested to hear. The history is well known to most of us that have been here a lot longer than the bloke that is lecturing us.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House, the member for Banks and the Minister for Resources and Energy—very much an unlikely trio—are not helping the chair. The answer is relevant to the question which was asked about what the government is doing to increase the core capability of the Australian Federal Police.

Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I must say that those opposite have spent very little time actually explaining the important role of the AFP to the members of the Australian public. It is my belief that they have been so busy in the past playing the politics of fear that they did not feel it appropriate to describe successful initiatives to deal, for instance, with counterterrorism in South-East Asia, which I will come to.

There is no doubt of the importance of the role of the Australian Federal Police in that respect. Just recently I was speaking to Dr Rohan Gunaratna, the very well known head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Singapore technological university. And this, Mr Speaker, whatever those opposite might think, will be of great interest to others. He said to me—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Under standing order 75 previous Speakers have ruled that when ministers give very lengthy answers to questions it is provocative and you cannot expect the opposition not to interject. We have now listened to the honourable minister for a great deal of time and I would ask you to draw his answer to a conclusion. He can speak on a ministerial statement or even on the adjournment but, really, he does not need to answer this question at such length.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! For the member on my left who interjected that that was ‘a good point of order’: I am afraid it was not.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Pyne interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I warn the member for Sturt! Whilst there are standing orders about tedious repetition, we haven’t got to the repetition bit yet! The members on my left will settle down and the minister will resume his answer and bring it to a close.

Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I reiterate that Australia’s offshore counterterrorism policies and strategies have been spearheaded by the AFP, and if it was not for Australia’s assistance to South-East Asian countries, and particularly Indonesia, the threat of terrorism would have increased considerably since the Bali bombings. That is why the government are pleased to be delivering on our election commitment to boost the AFP’s numbers by 500 to focus indeed on the AFP’s domestic investigations including drug trafficking, organised crime, fraud and money laundering. Five hundred new officers will build on the excellent work being done by those dedicated police professionals.