Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Acting Prime Minister. Has joining the war in the Middle East increased the threat of terrorism in Australia and made us less safe?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. Governments have to act on all fronts to endeavour to secure peace in their own lands and hopefully to provide a positive influence around the world. That is what Australia has done. The aircraft flew into the towers in New York well before the US went to war in Iraq. We had Australians' lives lost in Bali well before we committed to those conflicts. So it is simply nonsense to try and argue that because a country does its duty to help keep the world safe, because a country commits to what may sometimes be a very difficult and costly conflict, that somehow or other that is justification for other people to commit acts of terror in our land. The reality is that people are acting now in Australia, unfortunately, before there has been any commitment by Australia to place people into the war zones.

We will continue to talk with the Australian people. The government is committed to open dialogue with the opposition, and I commend the opposition for their constructive approach to these issues as well. Australians are united in wanting their own country to be peaceful and wanting the world to live in peace. Sometimes, you have to fight to preserve your peace. This may well be such an instance. There is a horror around the world at the present time that can be tolerated by none. Governments, therefore, need to be firm in their resolve to make it clear to anyone that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable. The United Nations Security Council meeting last night made that point abundantly clear to the world. The world is united in endeavouring to stamp out this evil, and Australia stands ready to play its part.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Justice. Will the minister please inform the House of the action the government is taking to prevent young Australians being radicalised and leaving Australia to join extremists overseas?

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for that question. I want to reiterate to the House that our security measures at home and abroad are directed against terrorism, not religion and not any sector of the community. It is about fighting crime and keeping Australians safe. To do this, it is absolutely essential that we have strong law enforcement agencies that are resourced properly and have the legislative powers they need to do their jobs. As the Deputy Prime Minister has noted and just to update the House, the Victorian police officer who was injured on Tuesday night is about to leave hospital and the Australian Federal Police officer who was very seriously attacked is doing well. In spite of his rather horrific injuries, he is doing as well as can be expected.

To make sure that law enforcement can do their job, we are investing $630 million in a counter-terrorism package. A very important part of that package will be investing $13.4 million in a Countering Violent Extremism program. This will be aimed at early intervention that will help to support people at risk and to deradicalise through mentoring, education and health support. It will allow us to work directly with communities so that they can help to prevent individuals moving down the wrong path to radicalisation and violence. It will also help us to prevent and counter online radicalisation, which is particularly important because we have seen recently how social media, in particular, can encourage radicalisation, particularly amongst young people.

The internet presents us with risks, but it also presents us with a great opportunity. We want to develop counter-narratives which will reach out to communities with a positive message. To do so, we will work with our international partners and big social media sites, such as Google and Facebook, to address concerns over extremists' use of websites.

The Countering Violent Extremism program is in addition to the excellent work federal and state law enforcement already do. The government and law enforcement have been working to address concerns within the community, to discuss the counter-terrorism measures and to work through ways we can reach out particularly to young people who are moving down the wrong path. We are doing this to prevent incidents like we saw in Melbourne on Tuesday evening.

A lot of work has been done and a lot of work will continue to be done. Our nation will never be about isolating part of our community based on religion, and the government will not allow that to happen. We appreciate comments that were made yesterday by Sheikh Safi, an executive member of the Australian National Imams Council, when he said:

Community harmony should be maintained at all costs. We must not let emotions take over common sense.

Now is the time to remain calm. We will continue to do everything we can to make sure that Australians live in safety together.