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

My question is to the Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Counter-Terrorism. Will the minister please advise the House as to what steps the government is taking to build domestic capacity to challenge violent extremism?

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

I thank the member for Petrie for that question. Countries all across the world are dealing with this question of what makes people susceptible to both extremist influences and recruitment by terrorists. The tragic and barbaric murder of Curtis Cheng in Parramatta was, sadly, another stark reminder that young people in Australia are radicalising and that this can very quickly turn to deadly violence.

I recently travelled to New York and Washington to discuss the issue of violent extremism with our international partners. Through these discussions it has become clear that this type of radicalisation is a global threat. It is a complex threat and it is one for which there is no readily available solution. It remains a serious challenge. My counterparts recognised that Australia's response to countering violent extremism is among the most advanced in the world. It is advanced because we continue to involve our response with the challenge of embracing new and creative solutions to this problem. We realise that preventing somebody from becoming radicalised in the first place is the most effective defence against terrorism. That is why we tripled our investment in countering violent extremism to $40 million.

A range of measures are now in place to help stop our young and vulnerable from moving down the dark path of violent extremism. We have intervention programs operating all around the country. These programs help us identify radicalised and at-risk individuals, and provide case management plans to address the root cause of their radicalisation. We are challenging terrorist propaganda online. ISIL is a medieval and barbaric organisation but it does use modern forms of communication very effectively. On Twitter, ISIL and its supporters have at least 46,000 active accounts, each with an average of 1,000 followers. Every day ISIL or its supporters trade upwards of 1,000 pieces of online propaganda on Twitter alone.

The government is working on initiatives that help us understand how extremist propaganda resonates and then works to undermine its appeal. This is in addition to the $660 million over four years that we are investing to support social cohesion and settlement services. But we realise that continuing to meet this challenge requires every level of government across the country, and, of course, the greatest allies in this will be the Muslim communities themselves. The Prime Minister has therefore convened an urgent meeting in Canberra on Thursday with officials from federal, state and territory agencies to discuss our approach to countering violent extremism. The recommendations and proposals developed at this meeting will be considered at the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments and will be used to ensure that Australia's response to countering violent extremism continues to lead the world and continues to help us to meet this new and evolving terrorist threat.