Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind her of budget cuts to Australia's security agencies described as disgraceful and unacceptable by the member for Holt. I also remind the Prime Minister of the reported theft of blueprints for the new ASIO headquarters, amongst other security breaches. Can the Prime Minister guarantee that cuts to the AFP, Customs, ASIO and other agencies have not hurt the government's capacity to keep our country safe?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. To the Leader of the Opposition I can certainly say that all our agencies are in a position to keep our country safe with the resources that they have. I believe it is very important when we are talking about resources that we actually have the facts on the table, so let us go through the facts.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, the member for Kooyong!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I reject any suggestion that funding to Australia's intelligence agencies has been cut.

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, I did assume the Leader of the Opposition was raising a serious issue, not something for political catcalling, so I hope that when we are talking about national security we may see a little decorum on the opposition back benches and the front bench otherwise people will conclude that they are not at all interested in national security. They are just interested in a bit of cheap politics.

But if they are genuinely interested in national security, then they would be genuinely interested in the facts. The parliamentary committee review tabled yesterday relates to the 2010-2011 budgets of the Australian intelligence community, that is, the budgets that were announced by the Treasurer more than three years ago. As announced in the 2013-14 budget, from 1 July the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation will receive an increase of $32.3 million, a 10 per cent rise in funding. Since coming to government in 2007, this government has increased funding for ASIO from $291 million in 2007-08 to $369 million in 2013-14. That represents a funding increase of 27 per cent. Over the same period the average staffing level for ASIO has increased from 1,349 to 1,778, a 32 per cent increase. So I would say to the Leader of the Opposition that before he makes any wrong claims about resourcing our national security, he checks the facts. Since coming to office the government has invested around $18 billion from 2008-09 to 2013-14 on national security matters.

On the question of Four Corners last night, there were a number of unsubstantiated allegations of hacking in the Four Corners report. As the Attorney-General has stated, neither he nor the Director-General of ASIO intend to comment further on these inaccurate reports in accordance with the long-standing practice of both sides of politics not to comment on very specific intelligence matters.

Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister inform the House about the arrest of a man in Sydney last night by officers from the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Deakin for his question. By now members of the House will be aware that agents of the Australian Federal Police and the New South Wales Police Force last night arrested a 23-year-old man in Sydney. The man is charged with using a carriage service to make a threat and threatening to cause harm to a Commonwealth official. He has been refused bail. Speaker, I do not intend to comment on the specifics of this case as it is before the courts, but I do want to make some more general remarks about Australian national security at this time.

In recent days Australians have seen the footage of an horrific attack in London on an individual soldier, and I think that members across the House would acknowledge, as I most certainly do, that that footage contained some of the most disturbing images I have ever seen. The implication of this incident for Australia has been considered by our National Security Committee. Of course an incident like this emphasises the effective and ongoing preventative work of federal and state agencies in countering similar terrorism threats to Australia. We all rely on their work, necessarily done without fanfare or publicity, and they have served us all well in the past 12 years.

We must also remember the importance to that work of the continuing support and cooperation of both the leadership of Australia's Muslim communities and the Australian Muslim community as a whole. These Australians are very committed to our inclusive, diverse and tolerant society and without their engagement and support our intelligence agencies would be much less well advised about extremist elements and individuals. What this shows is what we said in the National Security Statement, that the continuing threat of terrorism always has the capacity to shock and surprise us.

I can also advise the House that the Chief of the Defence Force, General Hurley, has provided specific advice to Defence Force personnel regarding the need for enhanced security awareness and vigilance. I wish to emphasise Australia's terrorism alert level remains unchanged at medium and the government will continue to work to secure Australia against terrorist threats.