Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister representing the Attorney-General. I refer to the minister's previous answer. Has the protocol for correspondence that contains references to contact with Daesh, Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL, IS or similar terms in the Attorney-General's private office and in his department been revised? If so, when was it revised?

Mr Ewen Jones interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Herbert will desist.

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

What I do know is letters received from Mr Monis that were produced to the coroner's inquiry included letters he sent to former Prime Minister Gillard and former Attorney-General McClelland and copied to the member for Isaacs. For the member for Isaacs to try to make political gain out of correspondence in the Attorney-General's Department at this time is utterly contemptible. He should not pursue this line of questioning given his record in national security was pathetic.

David Coleman (Banks, 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 threat posed by foreign fighters internationally? What steps has the government taken to partner with other countries to counter this threat?

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

I thank the member for Banks for his question. I know that he has a genuine interest in national security issues that affect all Australians. The government is taking decisive steps to combat the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters at home and abroad. The 100 or so Australians fighting for Daesh and terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq are a lethal part of the estimated 20,000 foreign fighters who are there. Reports from the Munich Security Conference this year estimate that France has around 1200 nationals fighting in Syria and Iraq, Germany has around 600, United Kingdom has around 600 and Russia has well over 1,000. Renowned terrorist expert Sidney Jones estimates that there are around 200 Indonesians and at least 60 people from Malaysia fighting with Danish and other terrorist organisations.

The foreign terrorist fighters returning from the Middle East are a real threat to Australia. The risk is that they could carry out mass casualty attack, as other countries have experience. The number of foreign fighters in our own region with hands-on terrorist experience in Syria and Iraqi is now many times greater than it was for Afghanistan in the 1990s. This is a chilling thought, because extremists who fought and trained in Afghanistan were responsible for the Bali bombings, the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, the sinking of the ferry in the Philippines and bombing of the Jakarta Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

Attacks around the world claimed by extremists and terrorist groups have risen rapidly over the last 12 months, with more than 1,000 attacks last month alone. This year, there have been terrorist attacks in France, Denmark, the United States, Lebanon, Pakistani, Libya and Saudi Arabia, as well as the daily attacks in Syria and Iraq. There are many more planned terrorist attacks, including in Australia, that have thankfully been thwarted by our law enforcement agencies.

The government is determined to combat the threat posed by foreign fighters to Australians and Australian interests overseas. We are strengthening our intelligence exchange with traditional allies, engaging new counter-terrorism partners and building on our network of counter-terrorism agreements with 13 countries in our region, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistani, Thailand and the Philippines. We are contributing to international efforts to combat Daesh in Iraq. At the request of the Iraqi government, there are around 300 Australian Defence Force personnel training the Iraqi army's 76th brigade. We have personnel supporting air strikes.

The meeting of the global coalition to defeat Daesh in Paris next week, I will reaffirm Australia's commitment to ongoing international efforts to prevent the flow of fighters and funds from Australia to terrorist networks. This government is committed to combating terrorism in all its forms to keep our people safe.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister representing the Attorney-General. I refer to the letter the Attorney-General received from Man Haron Monis on 9 October, nine weeks before the Sydney siege.

Mr Ewen Jones interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Herbert will desist.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why did the use by Man Haron Monis of the honorific title 'Caliph Ibrahim' to describe the leader of Daesh not automatically raise red flags in the Attorney-General's private office or his department?

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

At least the member for Isaacs is now being honest about the line of questioning that preceded this contemptible question. As this former Attorney-General knows, the procedures that were in place in the Attorney-General's office were in accordance with long established Attorney-General's Department procedures.

As the Attorney-General has pointed out in a press release today, which I bring to the attention of the former Attorney-General, Senator Brandis has contacted the Director-General of ASIO. The Director-General of ASIO has examined the letter to which the member for Isaacs refers. The Director-General of ASIO has said that in his view, since the letter was a request for legal advice, it was appropriate that the matter was referred to the Attorney-General's Department for a response. The letter and the Attorney-General's Department reply were both placed before the inquiry into the Martin Place siege, conducted by the secretaries of the Prime Minister's and the New South Wales Premier's departments. That report did not have any criticism at all on the way in which the Monis letter was dealt. I find it extraordinary that this former Attorney-General is seeking to make some political mileage out of this national tragedy. The Director-General of ASIO has confirmed that the procedure was appropriate, and I suggest that the former Attorney-General takes a long hard look at his record of degrading funding and resources for our intelligence agencies when he was in office.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on action that the government is taking to update citizenship laws to address terrorism threats and keep our community safe?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Page for his question. I have been to his electorate. He is highly respected in his part of the world, and he fights on his electorate's behalf in this place, as all of my colleagues do. Because, on this very important issue, this government is at one to make sure that we can deal with those people who would pose a threat to our country.

It is a great privilege to be an Australian citizen, regardless of how that citizenship is gained. If people breach that contract with the Australian people, there is a price to pay. If people are involved in terrorist activities in the Middle East, if they are fighting in the name of Islamic State, if they are doing harm to our national interests in the Middle East or if they are doing harm to our Australian people here at home, if they are fighting in the name of terrorism, there is a price to pay for that terrorism.

The criminal law is well established in this country, and if people breach that law—whether it is overseas or here in Australia—they will pay a price and they will pay a heavy penalty for those actions. But the removal of Australian citizenship, which is a very serious move for any government to contemplate, needs to be measured and balanced, and that is exactly what this government is putting forward. We have announced, as the Prime Minister did in his speech on 23 February this year in relation to national security, that we will do whatever it takes to keep the Australian people as safe as we humanly can. So we announced this week that, for dual nationals where we would not render that person stateless—if they had been involved in terrorist activities here or abroad, if they had supported those terrorists, if they had financed those terrorists, if they had trained those terrorists, if they sought to do harm to the Australian public—we, in that circumstance, would take Australian citizenship away from that person. And so we should.

We face an unprecedented threat in this country in relation to terrorism. There are 400 investigations being conducted by ASIO at the moment that are classified as high priority. We know that 100 Australians have left our shores to go and fight in the name of ISIL in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, and we know that at least 150 Australians, on our own soil, would seek to do us harm or would seek to support those people in the Middle East. People need to recognise that there will be a consequence; if they are dual nationals and they are involved in these sorts of activities, we take it very seriously, and we will act to strip citizenship.

Importantly, as I say, it needs to be balanced, because it is a very important consideration that we undertake. There does need to be this important principle of not rendering somebody stateless, but also, importantly, that there is judicial review in the process. That is what we have put forward, as well as a discussion paper to talk to the Australian public about these matters in coming months, and we will have a serious conversation with the Australian public.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Attorney-General. I refer to the statement from the Attorney-General just now quoted by the foreign minister in her previous answer. Why did the Attorney-General wait until today to speak to the Director-General of ASIO about this matter?

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bass!

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

The member for Bass will remove himself under 94(a).

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

The letter to which the member for Isaacs refers was placed before the inquiry into the Martin Place siege; the response from the Attorney-General's department likewise. The member for Isaacs might well appreciate that the Attorney-General's chief of staff is a former director-general of ASIO, and the Attorney-General is confident that all appropriate protocols were adopted.

If the member for Isaacs continues to wish to make political capital out of a national tragedy, I will feel obliged to remind the member for Isaacs that it was a senior leader of the Labor Party who wrote a reference for this man. It was a senior leader of the Labor Party who wrote a reference for Mr Monis. I would suggest that—given the six separate briefings on terror matters that the opposition have had, as well as the 13 further briefings that the opposition have had on national security matters—they cannot claim to be ignorant of the significant threat that terrorism is posing to this country. After six separate briefings on terrorism matters and 13 separate briefings on national security matters, this opposition ought to know better than to pursue this line of questioning.