Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

The short answer to the question is no. I would just like to refer Senator Brandis, and those on the other side who might want to consider simply asking questions because of what is in the papers, to the following facts in relation to terror threats which have been locally generated. In 2005, nine men in Sydney were arrested and charged with terrorism offences—all nine were convicted. In 2006, an Australian national, Faheem Lodhi, was convicted of planning terrorist attacks in Australia during 2003. In September 2008, a Sydney man was convicted of collecting or making documents likely to facilitate terrorist acts. In 2006, 13 men in Melbourne were arrested and charged with terrorism offences—nine were convicted of being members of a terrorist organisation. In 2000, Australian national Jack Roche was tasked by senior al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to identify Israeli and Jewish targets in Australia, and in 2001 the same gentleman applied for and was granted a visa to visit Australia which was cancelled before he could travel. Perhaps the opposition could answer this question: given those facts, what is exaggerated about the fact that we do face home-grown and locally generated terrorism threats?