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

For months now we have seen the threat of terrorism in Australia rise. We have seen Australians fighting with terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. We have seen foreign fighters return to Australia and we have also seen people in Australia are actively supporting extremist groups.

Radicalisation is becoming a very real choice for some young and vulnerable Australians. As someone who believes that not all Muslims are terrorists, recently we have seen a lot of terrorists say that they are Muslims. I am worried about the perceptions these facts are creating when it comes to Muslims living in Australia.

This Sunday the Bald Hills Mosque in my electorate is holding an open day, and I would encourage people from the Petrie electorate to come along and talk to these people—talk to the families and communities—and ask any questions they might have.

Rest assured: the government is working to improve our national security. We are cancelling passports of radicals and we will strengthen citizenship legislation so dual nationals found to be collaborating with terrorists will be stripped of Australian citizenship.

The best thing that we can do as parliamentarians is to work on our relationships with people and promote strong family values and mentoring throughout all Australian communities to ensure young people remain on the straight and narrow.