Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is backing our national security agencies to create a stronger Australia and keep all Australians safe against those who would seek to do us harm?

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. The security of our nation, of our families, of our businesses is an absolute priority for this government as we work through the various phases of our national plan to return to our normal way of life. While our frontline health workers have very rightly been in the spotlight during this pandemic, our law enforcement and national security agencies have also worked around the clock to deal with a new and evolving threat environment. We all know that the world has changed since COVID, but that COVID is not the only challenge to our safety and security. And that's why our government continues to provide support to our law enforcement and our national security agencies so that they have the tools that they need. We are certainly equipping them for their fight against terrorism, on organised crime and to counter foreign interference, all with the very clear goal of making sure that we are making our communities safe and secure.

It was only a couple of months ago that we saw the enormous success of the AFP's Operation Ironside, which cut through the Australian criminal underworld. The foundations of that success were the laws that this government had introduced to keep our agencies well ahead of the game, particularly in relation to technology. In the last few months alone our government has gone even further to keep Australians safe. We've made ports and airports safer and more secure by ensuring that people with serious criminal backgrounds cannot work there. We've secured key counterterrorism tools, including control orders, which are used to ensure the safety and security of all Australians. We've passed new laws to give police and intelligence agencies a greater ability to tackle criminal activity online, making the internet a safer place for everyone, especially for our children. And we've improved foreign intelligence capability to make sure that our agencies are better equipped and better able to detect and determine any imminent threats, which is especially important to protect us from terrorist attacks.

We are making sure, as a government, that our agencies are very well equipped to deal with the emerging threats as and when they happen, and that's why we have provided record funding both to ASIO and to the Australian Federal Police. I can assure Australians that this government is absolutely committed to making sure that we are doing all that we possibly can to ensure the safety and security of all Australians.