George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much indeed, Senator Johnston, for that very timely question. Senator Johnston, as you know, this government is committed to keeping Australians safe. We are doing that through our work both at home and overseas. We are doing it through resourcing our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to give them the capability, the people and the resources they need to do their important work. We are doing it by constantly keeping our counter-terrorism laws under review. As part of that continuing review, the government has discussed a range of reforms with law enforcement and security agencies to respond to the lessons learned from the increased operational activity over the past 12 months. Implementing those reforms will ensure that the laws meet the needs of law enforcement and security agencies in responding to a rapidly evolving threat environment.

And, Senator Johnston, importantly, the government is working closely with our international partners. Yesterday, Prime Minister Turnbull and his Malaysian counterpart, Prime Minister Najib, announced a strategic partnership between Australia and Malaysia that will strengthen our cooperation on counter-terrorism and defence. Last week, the Minister for Justice, Mr Keenan, and I met with the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, General Luhut, to discuss closer engagement and cooperation on intelligence between Australia and Indonesia to thwart terrorism. At that meeting, we agreed to meet in Jakarta next month to discuss ways in which Australia and Indonesia can work even more closely together to make our two nations and the region safer and more secure.