I rise today to speak on the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (AFP Powers and Other Matters) Bill 2022. The threat of terrorism continues to evolve globally and for Australia. Disruption associated with the pandemic has seen the emergence of new conspiratorial narratives, some of which may provide false justification for violent activities.
In 2022, as we continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and once more gather in crowds, we cannot become complacent about the terrorist threat. This bill would extend the sunset date for the following counterterrorism powers utilised by the Australian Federal Police by 12 months so that they do not sunset on 7 December 2022: the stop, search and seizure powers contained in division 3A of part 1AA of the Crimes Act 1914 (Crimes Act), the control order regime in division 104 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Criminal Code), and the preventative detention order regime in division 105 of the Criminal Code.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, known as the PJCIS, provided a statutory review on the powers central to this bill in October 2021, unanimously recommending the powers be extended provided amendments were made, including additional safeguards. I note that the Attorney-General indicated to the House that the government would be looking to draft legislation and consult with the states and territories after providing their response to the PJCIS’s report.
We look forward to the government also engaging with the opposition on potential legislation in the interests of continuing the tradition of bipartisanship when it comes to national security in this place. And I look forward to working closely with the Attorney-General. It is a very genuine offer made on my behalf and on behalf of the coalition to work very constructively on matters of national security, particularly in relation to terrorism matters.
Australia’s counterterrorism arrangements include three national objectives: countering violent extremism in all its forms by preventing radicalisation of individuals before an attack takes place, and rehabilitating and reintegrating violent extremist offenders; equipping our law enforcement, security intelligence and other operational agencies with the resources and powers to tackle terrorist threats; and ensuring that our counterterrorism arrangements are resilient, collaborative, consistent and proportionate both nationally and internationally. These pillars have guided our response over the past 20 years and will continue to do so over the next 20.
We know that we cannot and must not be complacent. The national terrorism threat level remains at ‘probable’, where it has been since 2014. The probable level indicates that we have credible intelligence and that there are people with the intent and the capability to do us harm. Individuals, groups and ideologies, both old and new, continue to plot and fantasise about doing us harm. Encrypted communications and global digital networks give these people a secure voice to a worldwide audience. Disruption associated with the pandemic has seen many stay home alone with little to do but search the internet for simple answers to complex global questions. The Australian government needs to protect our community from terrorism and provide our law enforcement and intelligence agencies with the tools and resources they need to protect our community. This bill is one of those very tools.
I note that last year the parliament worked to pass the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill 2021, in which the sunset provisions were extended until 7 December 2022. That act also dealt with sunsetting provisions for declared areas relating to foreign fighters under the Criminal Code, amongst other matters which are not under consideration in this bill.
The relevant provisions of the Crimes Act 1914 give police the powers required to respond to a terrorist incident or threat swiftly and efficiently. The powers allow police to stop, question and search persons and seize items in a Commonwealth place if they suspect on reasonable grounds that the person may have just committed, might be committing or might be about to commit a terrorist act, or effect the same powers, in the same circumstances, but in a prescribed security zone and without reasonable grounds.
The powers allow police to enter premises if they suspect on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to search the premises for a thing and to seize it to prevent it from being used in connection with a terrorism offence, and that it is necessary to do so without a search warrant because there is a serious and imminent threat to a person’s life, health or safety.
Control orders can be imposed by the courts for the purpose of protecting the public from a terrorist act as well as preventing the provision of support for or facilitation of a terrorist act or the engagement in a hostile activity in a foreign country. Control orders can impose a combination of different obligations, prohibitions and restrictions, including but not limited to prohibiting the person being in a specified area or from leaving Australia, requiring they wear a tracking device, requiring them to report to specified places at certain times or even requiring they participate in specified counselling or education.
The use of control orders has served our community immensely. I can cite multiple examples of the Australian Federal Police diligently protecting Australians through their use. In one such example, in 22 April, so just earlier this year, a convicted terrorist offender was sentenced in New South Wales for breaching a Federal Court control order. A year earlier, the man pleaded guilty to the offence after contravening conditions of the control order two weeks—two weeks!—after his release from prison by accessing religious extremist material. The AFP has said:
Control Orders are among the legislative measures used by authorities to protect the community from terrorism, by restricting certain actions and imposing other obligations on those subject to the orders.
The AFP’s High Risk Terrorism Offenders teams around Australia work tirelessly with our partner agencies to ensure community safety and we take seriously any breach of a Control Order … This sentencing shows any violation of these orders can attract a jail term.
Importantly, the need for these powers comes from the AFP’s own statistics, showing 70 per cent of convicted terrorist offenders released on control orders since 2019 have been prosecuted for contravening their orders.
Preventative detention orders allow a person to be detained for a maximum of 48 hours where police reasonably suspect an attack capable of being carried out could occur within the next 14 days or to preserve evidence in relation to a terrorist act. As these powers have not been used to date, this demonstrates that the Australian Federal Police have been appropriately judicious in exercising them.
In my time as home affairs minister, the coalition government ensured that our actions provided Australia’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies with more tools to protect Australians from the threat posed by convicted terrorists who cannot be brought back from the brink.
With attacks in recent years in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, we were, and in opposition we remain, committed to doing everything in our power to prevent such a tragedy from occurring here. We know that terrorists seek to create fear and division in our communities. Their ultimate aim is to destroy the ties that bind us together as a nation. That’s why there is no greater refutation of their ideology nor proof of their impotence than the free, open and transparent debate that empowers our liberal, democratic norms. The act of passing legislation through a parliament elected by the Australian people and reflective of their diversity is a direct challenge to terrorist ideology. It’s also emblematic of our adherence to the rule of law—a concept alien to terrorists, who kill indiscriminately.
Taking decisive action to prevent, detect and deter terror attacks should be the priority of any government, as it was under the former government. The coalition government delivered record funding in the fight on terror, including an extra $1.3 billion for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, and boosted the Australian Federal Police’s annual budget to more than $1.7 billion. We strengthened laws to ensure that our highest-risk terrorists remain behind bars and that terrorists serve their full sentences even when weak state laws provide discounts, and we strengthened laws enabling us to cancel the citizenship of dual-national terrorists. We listed terrorist organisations under our Criminal Code, including Hezbollah and Hamas in their entirety and other extremist groups such as the Base and the Sonnenkrieg Division, making it illegal to be a member or supporter.
With an emphasis on fighting international terrorism offshore before it reaches Australian homes, the coalition’s counterterrorism approach included active participation in countering online radicalisation and recruitment, terrorist financing, disrupting terrorist activity before it occurs and finding terrorists after they strike. The former government proudly co-chaired with Indonesia the Global Counterterrorism Forum’s Countering Violent Extremism Working Group as a direct protective measure.
On the matter of countering violent extremism, the coalition invested an additional $61.7 million in Australia’s countering violent extremism programs, keeping Australians safe from the full range of violent extremist ideologies and nearly doubling the total investment in CVE, countering violent extremism, since such initiatives began in 2013. This funding included five key measures: investing $24.5 million to expand intervention programs in rural and regional areas; establishing a $13.8 million national program to rehabilitate and reintegrate violent extremists in custody; providing $8 million to found an international centre of excellence for CVE research, risk assessment and training; establishing a new $10.7 million CVE community grants program; and providing a $4.7 million dollar boost to strategic communication programs that rebut extremist narratives and provide positive alternative stories about life in Australia.
Ensuring Australia remains a peaceful, tolerant and harmonious country needs to continue to be a government priority, but we cannot be blind to the fact there are those among us who seek to sow hate, fear and discord. Violent extremists may have a range of ideologies and motivations, but none of them are welcome in this country. And the former government’s CVE programs delivered strong results, but these programs had to keep up with changing extremist ideologies, methodologies and narratives. We all know that terrorists can benefit directly from organised crime, particularly by being funded by proceeds of crime. The threat of transnational serious and organised crime, including gangs, is real. It’s estimated that serious and organised crime costs hardworking taxpayers up to $60 billion a year.
The coalition government also introduced world-first powers to put high-risk mafia, triad and other gang leaders behind bars. We invested in the Australian Federal Police to boost their capabilities to keep communities safe from criminals and the threat of drugs and violence, including through the use of organised crime strike teams and the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce. The coalition’s tough stance on crime meant more detections and seizures, taking drugs, guns and other weapons off our streets. We cracked down on firearms trafficking with new laws, increased penalties and mandatory minimum sentences. We also boosted the resources of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Border Force and AUSTRAC as part of our plan to combat transnational serious and organised crime.
Aside from the introduction of continuing detention orders and control orders to keep our highest-risk terrorist offenders behind bars, and to restrict the movement of offenders when released, some of the specific counterterrorism achievements under the coalition included: 150 people charged as a result of 77 counterterrorism related operations since September 2014, when the national terrorism threat level was raised to ‘probable’; laws to ensure terrorists serve their full sentence, even if weak state laws provide a discount; the revocation of the Australian citizenship of 22 former dual nationals under the terrorism related provisions of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007; $86.7 million to protect the community from the threat of high-risk terrorists, including $19.8 for a national terrorist register; $61.7 million to prevent radicalisation through programs to counter all forms of violent extremism and to promote social cohesion; the listing of 29 groups as prescribed terrorist organisations under the Criminal Code, including the Base and the entirety of Hezbollah and Hamas; and criminalising the hosting and streaming of abhorrent violent material online, such as acts of terrorism.
The three pillars Australia built its counterterrorism response on for the past 20 years have served us well and will continue to do so going forward. The government will need to continue to secure Australia and the freedoms that security affords us by collaborating with others, sharing experiences and working together. We need to continue to counter violent extremism in all its forms before an attack takes place, maintaining our social cohesion and celebrating diversity and inclusion where terrorists try to divide and to sow fear. And we need to continue to give our law enforcement and security agencies the powers and authorities they need to respond to the terrorists and violent extremists who would do us harm. The threat of terrorism and violent extremism has not diminished, but neither has the willingness of those on this side of the House to combat them and to keep Australians safe and secure.