Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Protecting Australians and their interests, at home and abroad, is the core duty of any parliament and parliamentarian. I have strived to do this in each delegation, committee and office that I have been honoured to serve in. In my capacity as deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I'm committed to doing just that alongside my colleagues from across the political aisle.

The scourge of terrorism continues to threaten the global rules-based order on every continent. Terrorism is used as a tool to instil fear, destabilise democratic institutions, sew discord and divide civilised societies. Those who commits acts of terror such as those we have seen in Australia and in neighbouring nations such as New Zealand and Indonesia are planning, scheming and radicalising as we speak. Every waking hour those who would do us harm are at work, often in the darkest corners of the web. That's why I'm proud to take these steps today to protect our nation, work which began under the previous coalition government. Those on all sides of this place can agree that national security is beyond personalities, parties and politics.

Today we see the tabling of the PJCIS report into the then home affairs minister's listing of eight terror groups listed as terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code. Some of these names are well-known. I won't pretend to have the great pronunciation of the member for Wills but I will give them a crack. These include Hamas, whose unmitigated violence and hatred against the Jewish people, the state of Israel and her allies has continued for over 33 years; al-Qa'ida and its counterpart al-Qa'ida in the lands of the Islamic Maghred in North Africa; and Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian based Islamic State proponent responsible for the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, the 2004 bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and the 2009 hotel bombings in Jakarta.

But there are lesser-known organisations who pose just as great a risk to Australians at home and abroad: the National Socialist Order, which is a violent white nationalist group with a global reach; Hurras al-Din, a Syrian Islamist group; Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, a similar group seeking to impose a 'salvation government' in Idlib province; and Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic state proponent operating in the southern Philippines and eastern Malaysia. These organisations seek to dismantle Western civilisation, divide our communities and alliances, and destroy the values and the principles we hold dear. They are malicious.    They are murderous. They are barbaric. I am proud to be part of a bipartisanship approach, along with the member for Wills and all members of the PJCIS, in our efforts to name them, shame them and decimate their influence at home and abroad.