Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the international coalition's efforts to combat ISIL and other terrorist organisations in Iraq and Syria?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Longman for his question. Over the last week it has become quite evident that a very broad international coalition has been formed in order to combat terrorism wherever it occurs. Particularly, this broad coalition will fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria, where there are particularly murderous groups killing civilian populations indiscriminately, and in fact killing anyone whom they perceive opposes their ideology.

Last Friday I attended a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council chaired by Secretary of State John Kerry. Forty nations were represented at this special meeting and all of them spoke in condemnation of ISIL and its ilk. All of those present agreed to tackle terrorism as part of a united front. They agreed that military action should be taken and that the Iraqi government needed support in order that it can defend its own citizens and defend its territory and its sovereignty. It was agreed that there needed to be more humanitarian support. The Australian government committed further funding particularly focused on the women and children in Iraq who have been brutalised by this regime of terrorists, and there was an effort on disrupting the flow of fighters, funds and weapons into Iraqi and Syria.

On Tuesday, I attended the Global Counterterrorism Forum. Thirty nations pledged support for efforts to combat terrorist groups. This was chaired by the United States and Turkey, and it was focused particularly on preventing foreign terrorist fighters from leaving or coming back to countries, starving these terrorist groups of funds and cancelling passports. We shared experiences.

I also took the opportunity to meet with foreign ministers of Arab states to reconfirm Australia's commitment to fighting terrorism and to seek confirmation of their commitment. I met with the foreign ministers of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait and representatives of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and the Arab League. All confirmed their support for the airstrikes and for further steps to combat terrorism. I do point out the House that the threat is not just from the group called ISIL. There are other groups, including the deadly Khorasan group, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Syria, al-Nusra and al-Shabaab. This is a global issue. It is a regional issue. It is a domestic security threat. The Australian government will play our part in combating terrorism wherever it occurs.