Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the minister update the House on recent steps to ensure the security of Australia against the threat of terrorism, both here and abroad?

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

I thank the member for Fairfax for his question on a very serious and complex threat to our national security. The Australian government is committed to taking every action to secure Australia against the terrorist threat here and abroad. The arrest yesterday of an alleged terrorist suspect, who is said to have been assisting in the development of advanced missile technology for use by ISIS, demonstrates the insidious nature of this threat.

There are a number of deep concerns that we hold, for Australia is not immune. There have been, since September 2014, four attacks here in Australia and our security intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted 12 major planning operations. There are about 200 Australians who are currently under active investigation for supporting or seeking to support individuals and organisations involved in terrorism, either by funding through financial means or seeking to travel to Iraq and Syria to support them. In accordance with our security agencies' advice, I have continued to cancel passports of those Australian citizens who are either in Syria and Iraq or those who are seeking to travel there to train as a terrorist and support terrorist organisations. As from September 2014, I have cancelled 165 passports on national security grounds and I have suspended 36 others. We believe there are about 100 Australians who are currently fighting in Syria and Iraq supporting the terrorist organisations and other terrorists. We will take every step we can to prevent them coming home or seeking to leave, and that is why we will continue to cancel or suspend passports.

Today I announced a new approach to the Australian aid program in accordance with changes to the guidelines on a global basis of development assistance. Where appropriate, Australia will be able to use our aid budget for non-coercive countering of violent extremism initiatives. This will assist us to coordinate with our partners in the region to prevent the threat of terrorism taking hold in our region, and we will take every step possible to secure Australia against the threat of terrorism here and also in our region.