Alex Hawke (Mitchell, 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 government's cooperation with key security partners on counter-terrorism and its efforts to combat the threat posed by foreign fighters?

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

I thank the member for Mitchell for his question. In expressing our solidarity with the people and the parliament of Canada, may I also add that I made contact with Foreign Minister John Baird at 4 am, Canberra time, this morning. I was concerned to find out where he was in the world, as foreign ministers tend to travel, and also whether he was safe. He responded by informing me that he had in fact been just metres away from the gunman in the parliament and that he was, at that moment, barricaded within the building. I expressed our deep concerns for his safety and that of his fellow parliamentarians and the people in the vicinity. I also spoke with High Commissioner Michael Small this morning and extended our sympathies to the people of Canada and, specifically, the family of the Canadian Armed Forces member who was killed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Like Australia, Canada has a number of citizens who have taken up the fight with this murderous terrorist organisation ISIL. Canada estimates that it has about 130 citizens who are supporting or fighting with ISIL in some way. Australia estimates about 160 Australian citizens, as the Prime Minister indicated. Canada is also part of the international coalition to support the Iraqi government in combating ISIL, taking back territory and destroying the infrastructure and the organisation that is carrying out these brutal killings in Iraq. We are working closely with Canada but also with countries in our region—Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia in particular. We are also working very closely with a number of nations in the Middle East, through counter-terrorism networks. Our security, intelligence and defence organisations are working very closely, with this common, united view that we must combat ISIL, or Daesh, as it is called in the Middle East.

The chilling video of a young—17-year-old—Australian threatening his country as he takes up arms with ISIL shows that we must take immediate steps, a strong response, to counter this threat. Under the foreign fighters legislation, I will have the authority to suspend passports of those who we believe pose a security risk to this nation. I am currently able to cancel passports, or refuse to issue passports, and at this stage 70 passports have been cancelled on the grounds that the holder poses a risk to this nation. The government is taking all necessary steps to combat terrorism, all necessary steps to keep this country safe.