Posted on August 25, 2009
The highest responsibility of government is protecting its citizens from danger and from threat. That is the responsibility of government. In the area of national security, the manifest threat has for a long while been—and remains so, as we have seen from recent events—that of international terrorism.
What a contrast with the way in which the former government addressed this problem. There was a comprehensive counterterrorism policy for almost the whole period that the Howard government was in office. There was increased expenditure on counterterrorism activities. In 2004 the government released a counterterrorism statement to make its position clear. There was active work with our neighbours through bilateral engagement on counterterrorism activities, including a very successful program of building the capability of the Filipinos and the Indonesians to deal with this need. We worked with our neighbours diligently and conscientiously on this problem. There was also a comprehensive revision of the antiterrorism laws in this country so that in the domestic arena we were prepared to deal with the challenge which now confronts us. We were dedicated to what might be called a clear and present threat.
What a change occurred on 24 November 2007. That date is significant because that is the date on which the Rudd government won office. From that date there was a fundamental change in the government’s attitude towards the danger of terrorism. It essentially became an issue of almost no importance to this government. There was a conscious movement of priorities. Mr Rudd, who sets the agenda on foreign policy, national security and just about everything else that the government does in this arena, decided that the priorities were elsewhere. He decided that the government ought not to be focusing on the issues that threatened the lives of Australia’s citizens—as, sadly, we recently witnessed in Jakarta. He decided that our foreign policy agenda should focus on pretty well everything else. He decided we should focus on gaining a seat on the United Nations Security Council. We ought to focus on an Asia-Pacific community. We ought to put forward $9 million for an international commission on disarmament and arms control. We ought to focus on rejigging the international financial framework through the G20.
Now, as a result of these recent events, we arrive at a situation where the government has been caught short. It has failed to deal with this issue.