Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister tell the House how the Morrison government is guaranteeing Australia's national security capabilities and keeping the Australian people safe? Is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to say thank you to the honourable member not just for his service to our country but for his chairmanship of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. He does a fantastic job on that committee and provides an opportunity for us—particularly the agencies in my portfolio, such as ASIO and others—to work very closely with the committee, and for that I'm very grateful.

One of the dividends of managing the budget well and making sure that we've taken decisions in recent years to put our country in a strong position financially is that we can deliver strong essential services. That's a big dividend out of this budget. We've been able to respond to the health pandemic. We've been able to provide support to our hospitals and to many other aspects of the response to COVID-19, but, importantly, this budget is all about providing the essential services that Australians require. In particular one of the highest priorities of this government is to make sure that we can keep Australians safe. The threat of terrorism hasn't gone away. We know the scourge of people smugglers hasn't diminished. We know that we have to make sure that our armed services are provided with all the support that is possible. So last night we provided additional funding of about $1.7 billion to implement the Cyber Security Strategy which will help keep Australians safe online. In particular, we are providing support to mums and dads who are worried about their kids online and older Australians who might be worried about identity theft. I'm also very proud that in the budget last night we were able to provide certainty to the Australian Federal Police and increase their funding. It means that they can provide more frontline services not just in the cyberspace but in many other areas, including child protection where they do amazing work each day.

One of the dividends of managing the economy well—and that has been the focus of the government over a long period of time, as I've pointed out—is to make sure that we can invest in the Australian Defence Force. All of us are incredibly proud of the work that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force have done domestically during the recent natural disasters and in the response to the pandemic, but they are working around the world today to keep Australians safe and to serve our interests abroad. That's why we are investing more than $270 billion in Australia's defence capability over the next decade. It is the biggest investment in defence in decades, and it brings this government's investment in defence up to two per cent of GDP. If we look at Labor's atrocious approach, they dropped defence budgets down to levels that hadn't been seen since before the Second World War. We have invested in essential services, and we will continue to keep Australians safe.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister will cease interjecting. The member for Moreton will leave under 94(a).

The member for Moreton then left the chamber.

Mr Brian Mitchell interjecting—

The member for Lyons can leave under 94(a) as well. This happens after you've been asked to stop interjecting repeated times. It's not worth explaining any further.

The member for Lyons then left the chamber.