James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice, standing in the name of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me making a statement.

It is disappointing that the opposition was denied the opportunity to make this statement in relation to the very important issue of violent extremism. We asked for one minute, and it was denied by elements of this chamber. The statement reads: 'In 2021 ASIO amended its umbrella terms to describe violent extremism to reflect emerging and evolving threats. ASIO does not investigate people solely because of their political views, so labels like Left and Right often distract from the real nature of the threat. They also no longer adequately describe the phenomenon that we are seeing. According to ASIO, it is equally critical to understand that every ideologically motivated extremist is not automatically a left-wing or a right-wing extremist. There is a cohort of individuals motivated by a toxic cocktail of conspiracies, grievances and anti-authority beliefs. It is neither helpful nor accurate to reflexively assign these individuals to a place on the political spectrum. As such, having a sole focus on right-wing extremists forgoes considerations of the broader reality that violent extremism in general is the true threat to our society, specifically the horrific antisemitism that we have seen in recent weeks.'

I seek leave to withdraw the motion that I moved for the suspension of standing orders.

Leave granted.