Terrorism (Community Protection) Amendment Bill 2011

I rise to speak in support of the Terrorism (Community Protection) Amendment Bill 2011. This is a very important bill for a number of reasons which I intend to cover. When it comes to terrorism there are no second chances. We need to ensure that we have a strong and safe country, state and community in which we can walk down the street and know we are going to be protected. This government supports a system of national counter-terrorism legislation because at the end of the day in the free world terrorists do not discriminate. Whether they be a state, federal or even international target, the attacks we have seen around the world have been attacks on the free world and we also are a potential target.

While terrorism has been an issue for governments in many times, we need to look particularly at what has happened in the past decade. Certainly the events of September 2001 are always present in mind, and the events that took place at that time have changed the way in which our society operates. I remind the house of the words of the now Deputy Premier when he spoke on the condolence motion a week after the tragedy of September 11, when he said:

... these despicable acts have changed forever the way we will live our lives. They have wrought change in a way that none of us would have chosen, but they occurred nevertheless.

The Deputy Premier's words then have proven to be eerily accurate as it comes up to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. I am sure we can all remember where we were at the time of September 11. I was with my wife, who was expecting our first child, Tyler, who was born on 21 September, only a few weeks later. We certainly were thinking that we were about to bring life into the world at the same time as many lives were being taken from us. The times of uncertainty that followed that period were times of fear for many of us, and at that time we had no idea about what was going to happen from that period on. Regrettably we have changed the way we live compared with our lives prior to September 2001; the threat remains in our minds and is always there.

If you look at the way we live our lives -- if you look at our airports and even this Parliament and other public buildings and see the security we go through -- it is clear that we know that security measures need to be in place to ensure that these sorts of attacks do not take place in Australia.

This bill speaks to the first duty of government, which must always be to protect its citizens from outside attack and provide a safe society. The government supports the federal government's work to create uniform national legislation to ensure that no tragic attack can occur in Australia like those in New York, London, Bali, Madrid or any of the other cities hit by the scourge of terrorism. Terrorists know no boundaries when it comes to their calculated attacks on countries and cities in the Free World.

This bill amends the Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003, which sets a date for the review of the act to coincide with a Council of Australian Governments review of national efforts, and with the postponing of the release of that COAG review it is necessary that the Victorian legislation be amended accordingly. Again what may seem a very small and minor change is very significant, because it brings both the state and federal systems into cohesion.

While it is easy to hope, as we do, that no attack ever occurs on our soil, there is no doubt that terrorism has touched this country in a number of ways. I mentioned some of the cities that have been hurt by terrorism recently. In London, the first city in the Northern Hemisphere that many Australians visit for a gap year, we lost one Australian and 11 were injured. In Bali, the first holiday destination of many young Australians and families, we lost 88 Australians, while the threat remains in New York city, where 10 died in what is known as the greatest city in the world.

I want to acknowledge the great efforts of many individual Australians who have worked to help those affected by terrorist attacks. I pay tribute to a relative of mine, Dr Graeme Southwick , who was involved in the Bali bombings in 2002. Graeme was on holiday at the time the bombs went off and immediately went to work saving lives and providing any assistance he could. Just as many other Australians have done, he has been involved in providing assistance in times of need by helping people who have been affected by terrorism. The Australian casualty in London shows me exactly how such attacks can occur so close to our communities. Sam Ly, who died in Tavistock Square, was a former student and staff member of Monash Caulfield -- a major feature in my electorate. These global acts of terror can reach our communities in unimaginable ways and show how as parliamentarians we must work with all states and the commonwealth to prevent these attacks from happening on our shores.

The threat of terror has been recognised by the federal and Victorian governments, and by our police command, with the establishment of the Security Intelligence Group of Victoria Police, know as the SIG. Efforts by the government have thus far been successful. Over the last few years we have seen the SIG break up two of the most dangerous terrorist cell threats in Australia in operations known as Pendennis and Neath. Pendennis investigated groups of men who planned violent attacks on army bases and other sites, and the SIG also played a role in investigating a plot to attack the 2005 AFL Grand Final. If we ever needed proof of how terrorism can shake the core of a society, it is in the horror all Victorians feel at the idea of a cultural institution like the grand final being the target of a threat. It shows how the aim of terrorism is to attack our very way of life. I recently attended a briefing by a member of the SIG who touched on the links between terrorist attacks on local institutions and also with domestic crime.

I mention this because the great work of our government in funding 1600 new police officers and 100 new transit officers is all about prevention of such crime. This will help assist the specialist antiterrorism initiatives Victoria Police is currently undertaking.

Residents in my electorate of Caulfield have experienced recent incidents of crime which have been coordinated, racially motivated and relevant to the campaign against terrorism and which also indicate that we need to ensure that our streets are safe and that our suburbs are well and truly protected. To give you an example, there have been a number of anti-Semitic hate speeches painted on benches, posts and areas around Caulfield Park. Meanwhile, last week in my electorate a group of religious Jews coming back from their synagogue was egged in a planned attack. I mention that as a planned attack because the perpetrators had balaclavas and had gone out and purchased eggs and had then targeted these individuals.

Where do you draw the line with these sorts of things? We need the proper laws and the proper police investigations to be in place to ensure that people in our community do not target attacks on others.

Unfortunately, schools, places of worship and community events in my electorate all need to be protected by volunteer trained security officers who work closely with Victoria Police. I congratulate the coalition on recognising the efforts of the community security group through the Premier's public acknowledgment of its work and a $40 000 grant being approved as part of an election commitment.

For the reasons I have outlined, I am proud to speak in support of this legislation. The past decade has seen a need for society to step up its efforts in combating terror and working with all good governments to stop these attacks on our way of life. Terrorism is a fundamental attack on society's values. We must do everything we can to stop it in its tracks, and by coordinating our legislation with that of other states and the commonwealth we can do just that. I commend the bill to the house.