Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let me be incredibly clear here: all forms of hatred and division are unacceptable whatever the ideology. We all should be proud that Australia is one of the, if not the most, successful multicultural countries in the world. We're proud to welcome people from all backgrounds. We give everyone a fair go, regardless of where they're from. As Australians, and as a government, when racism does occur, we call it out. We condemn it. The Morrison government is absolutely committed to protecting our nation from all threats, whether they be from the extreme Right or the extreme Left. We make no distinction where there are threats to the Australian community. Keeping Australians safe is our government's highest priority, be it through COVID or terrorist threats.

Our laws and arrangements are agnostic. We focus on the threat and criminality, not the motivation or ideology. In fact, just last December the Minister for Home Affairs referred an inquiry to the PJCIS into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia. In doing so, the minister has asked the committee to give particular consideration to the motivations and capacity for violence of extremist groups, including far Right extremist groups, and to consider changes that could assist the Commonwealth's terrorist organisation listing laws to ensure that they provide a barrier to those who may seek to promote an ideological extreme in Australia. But the committee will look further than that. They've also been tasked with inquiring into the influence of extremist groups that fall short of the legislative thresholds for proscription terrorist organisations and any steps that can be taken to address hate speech. The previous speaker, Senator Watt, might want to stay for this, because I agree that free speech does not mean speech is free from consequence. I don't think anyone denies that. The committee will inquire into thresholds to regulate the use of symbols and insignia associated with terrorism and extremism. The committee is due to report by 30 April this year. Our commitment to properly fund the fight against extremism is further proof of our total lack of tolerance for any and all forms of extremism. This budget includes: $63 million of social cohesion measures to bring Australians together; $37.3 million to promote Australian values, identity and social cohesion and counter malign information online; $17.7 million to enhance engagement with multicultural communities; and $7.9 million to establish a research program to inform initiatives to strengthen social cohesion.

In the last budget, the government provided an additional $571.4 million over five years to security agencies to keep Australians safe. ASIO's funding is at the highest level it's ever been in its more than 70 years of history, and the AFP has received an additional $300 million over four years to enhance its ability to respond to emerging threats. The Department of Home Affairs has had more than 10,000 engagements with key multicultural groups, which is a 51.9 per cent increase nationally.

Throughout this pandemic the Morrison government has ensured that ads have been placed in selected media outlets—online, in print and on radio—reinforcing our clear position that racism is unacceptable. We've translated those into 16 languages, with support online in 63 languages other than English. We know our values. I think all of us in this place try to espouse those values, values that respect freedom and dignity of the individual; freedom of religion; commitment to the rule of law, which means that all people are subject to the law and should obey it; and our parliamentary democracy, whereby our laws are determined by parliaments elected by the people—those laws being paramount and overriding any other inconsistent religious or secular laws. Australia is truly the greatest multicultural country in the world.