Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister please update the House on Australia's efforts to counter violent extremism?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. This morning, I was pleased to open a discussion with the senior officials from state and territory law enforcement, education and social services agencies that are meeting here in Canberra today to develop the best approaches we can take to counter violent extremism and expand on the very good work those agencies are already doing. The shocking murder of Curtis Cheng in Parramatta two weeks ago was a sobering reminder of the need for effective and robust counter violent extremism measures. The crime, as we know, was especially shocking, as the perpetrator was only 15 years old. Radicalisation, extremism—violent extremism—is now being seen in the very young.

We are a big nation; we are a big Australian family. We have many agencies at our level, federally, and at state and territory level, engaged in the vital task of ensuring our community is safe. At the foundation of Australia's approach to keeping our community safe and countering this extremism is maintaining a strong and diverse society. That is why the government has invested and $40 million in new initiatives to turn vulnerable individuals, often young boys, away from violent extremist ideologies.

Last year, the government introduced the $13.4 million new Living Safe Together program, and earlier this year the Attorney-General announced nearly $18 million for the new Combating Terrorist Propaganda in Australia initiative. In coming weeks, the government will introduce into the parliament a fifth instalment of counter-terrorism laws, which have been developed in careful collaboration with all of the states and territories, including, of course, New South Wales. The new laws will, among other things—as honourable members know—lower the age at which a control order can be applied from 16 to 14 years of age.

As my minister assisting on counter-terrorism, the justice minister, noted earlier this week, in the last five months we have trained more than 300 specialists, embedded within the nation's frontline departments and agencies, to intervene and divert individuals from radicalisation. What these individuals and extremists seek to do is denigrate other groups in the community, often within their own religion, other religions and other ethnic groups, and they seek to turn us against each other. We defeat that by standing firm and united together. For we will have no tolerance for extremism, for extremist violence, for terrorism, wherever it may occur or whoever may seek to perpetrate it.