Nola Marino (Forrest, 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 advise the House of the steps the government is taking to address violent extremism in our communities?

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

I thank the member for Forrest for that question. The emergence of ISIL has produced the most significant threat of terrorism in Australia's history. It is clear from the tragic murder of Curtis Cheng that young Australians are being inspired by ISIL to commit acts of terror here in Australia.

The government is committed to addressing all forms of violent extremism. This is a very complex issue as there is no single path to radicalisation and no single answer. It is clear, though, that we cannot meet this challenge on our own. All Australian governments share a responsibility for countering violent extremism. That is why the Prime Minister convened a meeting today of federal, state and territory officials to discuss Australia's nationwide approach. It is absolutely necessary that the Commonwealth works together with the states and territories, and communities on our national response.

Police, teachers, families and social service workers are the front line against this threat. That is why, as the Prime Minister has already said, we have trained 300 specialists to intervene and divert individuals away from the dark path of radicalisation. We are investing $40 million in countering violent extremism initiatives—$13.4 million of this is for the Living Safe Together Grants Program, $2 million of which is for communities to educate and train people. This will assist our front-line service workers in early detection of radicalisation, and $11.2 million supports state-led intervention programs, which are already operating around the country. The government also supports prison deradicalisation programs in New South Wales and Victoria.

ISIL is a medieval organisation, but they have proved adept at utilising modern technologies to prey on our young and vulnerable. Part of our strategy is making sure that we are working online to counter and tear down terrorist propaganda. We will invest $22 million over four years to challenge extremist propaganda and reduce access to this material online. We are doing this in conjunction with our private sector partners such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. In addition to this, the federal government has invested $660 million over four years for initiatives that encourage social harmony and integration for our multicultural communities, and the Minister for Social Services is committed to ensuring that this money aligns with our broader CVE efforts.

It is vitally important that we cooperate with our regional and international partners. The Attorney-General attended the White House CVE summit in January this year and we hosted a regional CVE summit in Sydney in June. The foreign minister and I attended President Obama's CVE and countering ISIL summit in New York several weeks ago. We cannot wait until people have already been radicalised and turned to violence. We must reduce the risk of violent extremism by moving early to tackle the root of this problem.