Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Brandis. Will the Attorney-General update the Senate on the outcomes of last week's meetings of attorneys-general and national security ministers in Washington?

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

Thank you very much indeed, Senator O'Sullivan. It is the case that last week, accompanied by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, I attended a meeting of attorneys-general and national security ministers in Washington DC involving the so-called Five Eyes nations: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The meeting was hosted, on this occasion, by the United States. It was attended, among others, by the Attorney General of the United States, Loretta Lynch; the American Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson; the British Home Secretary, the Rt Hon. Theresa May; the British Attorney-General, the Rt Hon. Jeremy Wright; and others from the Five Eyes community.

Attorneys-general, national security ministers and, for the first time, immigration ministers participated in meetings which were held together and reaffirmed the importance of continued and enhanced collaboration between our closest security and intelligence partners. Jointly, homeland security ministers and attorneys discussed a range of topics, including information sharing for counter-terrorism purposes, countering violent extremism, cybercrime, encryption and foreign investment in critical infrastructure. The attorneys-general also discussed criminal justice reform, the principle of self-defence under international law, and the need to uphold the rule of law and individual freedoms in the age of national security threats. Separately, immigration and border protection ministers agreed to address the challenges posed by mass migration refugee flows and the need to improve information sharing between their respective jurisdictions. All five nations agreed to continue to coordinate efforts to ensure the security and prosperity of all of our citizens, consistent with the respect we all share for individual rights and freedoms and the rule of law.

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Thank you, Attorney-General, for that comprehensive answer. What were the other outcomes of the meetings?

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

Senator O'Sullivan, the attorneys and the ministers reaffirmed the importance of the Five Eyes—that is, the five great English-speaking democracies—continuing to work closely together on law enforcement and security matters, particularly in relation to counter-terrorism. And, in furtherance of those efforts, we agreed to undertake to further coordinate activity to counter violent extremism, including pooling of information as to CVE programs that work to best effect. We agreed that together we would address concerns about law enforcement access to encrypted information. We established an officials working group to arrive at a common position on the doctrine of self-defence under international law. We agreed to work towards even greater sharing of security and law enforcement information among the five countries, in particular enhanced sharing of information in relation to flows of migrants. (Time expired)

Barry O'Sullivan (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question to the Attorney-General: why is multilateral cooperation on counterterrorism so important?

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

Senator O'Sullivan, I am sure you, as a very distinguished former officer of the Queensland police service, would be well aware that it is very important that we have access to the best intelligence that we can and that that intelligence—

Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know all about Bjelke's bother boys!

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

Mr President, I thought this topic might be taken seriously by the opposition, but apparently it is not by all of them. Working with our closest allies is critical so that we can share that information and so that we can make one another aware of threats to the security of each of the nations, of which we become aware of through intelligence.

In addition to working to strengthen the Five Eyes alliance, the government is actively building strong partnerships with countries in our region. I have told you before, Senator O'Sullivan, about the ministerial council—in which Australia is a leading participant—which we established with Indonesia to ensure a local, regional and global response to the terrorist threat.