Celia Hammond (Curtin, 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 creating a stronger and safer Australia and protecting our way of life by enhancing national security, and is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

I thank the member for her question, and I also thank her for the very important contribution that she continues to make as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. National security has long been a hallmark of the coalition government. It's all about protecting Australia's sovereignty, protecting our businesses, protecting our families and, of course, protecting our way of life, and that's why our government has delivered record funding to our national security agencies. But, just as importantly, we're ensuring that they have the legislative backing that they need to make real gains in the fight on organised crime, on terrorism, on countering foreign interference and on improving community safety.

We all saw the enormous success of the AFP's Operation Ironside, which took down a significant cross-section of the Australian criminal underworld. More than 300 offenders were charged and over 5,000 kilograms of drugs were seized. Whilst those numbers are great, what's most important is the fact that the real impact of Operation Ironside was that criminals were taken off the street, drugs were seized, meaning that lives were saved and our communities were much safer places for Australians to live in. And, of course, Operation Ironside was made possible because of the legislation that was introduced by this government in 2018.

This government, the Morrison government, has been building further on the capability of our national security agencies, and, in the last few months alone, we've ensured that they have the ability to further tighten security at our ports and our seaports, to make sure that they are able to tackle the insidious criminal activity taking place on the dark web and to better detect and counter foreign interference. We've fast tracked the legislation that we need to protect our vital infrastructure from cyberthreats and ensure a stronger regime for the management of high-risk terrorist offenders. And we're taking these actions to make sure that we are in the best possible position to make sure that Australians are safe and that our communities are protected.

One of the other important things that we have made sure that we do is cancel the visas of those who commit serious crimes in this country, and, in fact, under the coalition government nearly 10,000 noncitizens have had their visas cancelled or refused on character grounds. We believe that an Australian visa is a privilege. It's a privilege that you forfeit when you commit a serious crime.

This government takes national security very seriously. We are committed to making sure that we do all that we can to ensure the safety of all Australians.