Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The first duty of government is to make sure the citizens in its jurisdiction are safe. Very often that means some of the rights and liberties we all love and expect in a country like Australia have to be adjusted because criminals and terrorists do not work by any rules; they can do what they like. In this area we're discussing, the criminals and the terrorists have taken advantage of technology to defeat and make difficult the work of Australia's security, criminal investigation and enforcement agencies. The earlier bill was all about making sure Australians were protected. Senator Steele-John and Senator McAllister are correct: that was passed through the houses quickly before the Christmas break. That was done on the advice of security agencies, who thought that the Christmas break could be a time for increased terrorist activities. So it was, fortunately, passed through the House and the Senate before the parliament rose last year, and I thank the Labor Party for their responsible approach to this then and now.

From my point of view, if it's a choice between someone close to me being blown up by a terrorist bomb or me having someone eavesdropping on my conversations or looking at my texts or tweets or Facebook or chat page, I know which I'd prefer. Quite frankly, if anyone wants to listen to anything I say or thumb into my device, they're welcome to it. They'd quickly die of boredom—and perhaps that, in some cases, might be a good outcome! But it is important that we take the advice of those who have the knowledge. Whilst I appreciate Senator Steele-John's passion and his self-proclaimed expertise in this area that many of us don't have—