Subjects: Counter-Terrorism arrests; Temporary Exclusion Orders Bill; tax cuts.
EO&E...........................................................................................................................................
TOM STEINFORT:
Minister good morning to you. What's the latest on these plans from the plotters?
PETER DUTTON:
Morning Tom. Look, it's a very serious matter and obviously this is now the 16th major terrorist attack that was planned that's been thwarted by the police. So, first words really are to the 200 police officers who have been involved in this investigation for 12 months. It is the case that people who are returning back from overseas, who have been inspired online want to do harm to Australians, want to kill Australians and the fact that they've been able to disrupt this alleged plot, that is very, very good news, but it's just a reminder of how serious the problem is that we still face.
TOM STEINFORT:
I thought it was interesting to see that some of the evidence against these men who are likely to be charged was from their WhatsApp messages, the discussions they'd been having on there. The encryption laws that you pushed to pass last year, have they played a factor in this?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Tom as you know there was a big debate about the encryption laws last year and encryption's important, we use it for internet banking and messaging – secure messaging otherwise – but we now know that close to 100 per cent of people involved in organised crime and paedophile rings, in terrorism activity are all using encrypted apps and encrypted phones so it makes it incredibly difficult for our ASIO authorities, our law enforcement authorities to have an eye on what bad people are doing.
So it has played a role and a very positive role in a number of investigations and obviously when we've got 200 people who are involved in the investigation, there are many elements to what would have brought this to fruition, but full credit to the frontline officers who have done a great job in keeping us safe.
TOM STEINFORT:
Now, one of these men who was arrested, he'd actually been investigated for 12 months by police prior to his arrest. Is there a chance here that it might have taken a little too long for warrants to be issued?
PETER DUTTON:
Look Tom, I think it's always hard and none of us know the detail, but knowing the people who are leading the investigation – the officers involved, I mean we're talking about the best officers in the country from the Federal Police, from the New South Wales Police in this instance, from ASIO and other agencies who have been involved in this – so I think we place our faith in them and they've acted at a time that's appropriate. Of course it's difficult because if you've got a normal crime that's been committed, the police can gather the evidence and then arrest somebody afterwards, but necessarily in these circumstances, we want to act before obviously an attack takes place. So in some of those circumstances you sacrifice the collection of evidence to keep people safe and to prevent the terrorist act from taking place.
TOM STEINFORT:
You've used these arrests as, I guess, the impetus to push for the implementation of a temporary exclusion bill. Take us through exactly how that would most likely assist authorities with counter-terrorism efforts?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, one of the real threats we've got now is returning foreign fighters – so Australian citizens who have gone overseas to fight in Syria or Iraq – they've been working with ISIL, they understand how to put IEDs together, they understand the art of terrorism and because they're Australian citizens, they now have an entitlement; a right to come back to our country.
Now, there are lots of laws that we've passed which have resulted in these 16 disruptions taking place, but we've looked at the UK and there's a law there where the government of the day can exclude their citizens for a period – in our proposal for up to two years – and it would allow us to manage the return of those people more effectively than what we can do now.
So there's no silver bullet. There are a number of ways in which we can manage people, including a disruption that you saw yesterday, but we need to be realistic about the threat, and we've still got many people who are fighting overseas – some of them have been killed, others will seek to return back to Australia – and we need to be very mindful of the threat that they pose. So that the temporary exclusion order is going to be an important Bill. It'll be introduced this week and we hope that we can get the support of the Parliament very soon to see it passed and into law.
TOM STEINFORT:
Now, just quickly onto the other big issue for the Government at the moment. We're talking about the future of your tax cut package. It now rests in the Senate, the legislation passing the Lower House last night. How confident now that you will see it get through there and that that money will start to flow through back to taxpayers?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Tom, I just hope for the sake of people living out in the suburbs that heard a very clear message from the Government at the election, that we want tax cuts and that we need Labor to support them to get the law through the Parliament.
People want those tax cuts. They need to pay their bills. They have budgeted for that extra money and it's the equivalent of anything up to two interest rate cuts of 25 basis points each. So it makes a big difference in households and I think Mr Albanese is going to fold eventually, but I hope that he can do it this week because the Tax Commission has been very clear that if we can get the laws passed this week – which the Government is absolutely determined to do – then people as they're putting their refunds in will get that money back straight away – it's about $1,080 for an average family – and that's going to make a big difference in people's budgets.
So hopefully it gets through with the support of Albo this week and it can be in people's pockets as soon as possible.
TOM STEINFORT:
Alright. Well that'll be the big issue in Canberra throughout the rest of the week. Minister Dutton, we appreciate your time on the show this morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks Tom.
[ends]
