The Government has released the Review of Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Machinery today.

The Review found that Australia has entered a new, long-term era of heightened terrorism threat, with a much more significant ‘home grown’ element.

It assesses that the terrorist threat in Australia is rising.  On all metrics, the threat to Australia is worsening.  The number of foreign fighters is increasing, the number of known sympathisers and supporters of extremists is increasing, and the number of potential terrorists, including many who live in our midst, is rising as well. 

There are at least 90 Australians fighting with and supporting terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria. Over 30 foreign fighters have returned to Australia and at least 140 people in Australia are actively supporting extremist groups. Thousands of young and vulnerable people in the community are susceptible to radicalisation. Terrorists are becoming more adept at evading surveillance.

The Review also finds that it is becoming harder to combat terrorism. Extremists’ slick online messages are grooming the socially isolated. Low-tech terrorism, needing little more than a camera-phone, social media account and a knife, means that it is becoming harder to for police and security agencies to anticipate and disrupt attacks

The number of serious investigations also continues to rise. ASIO is currently investigating several thousand leads and persons of concern. Roughly 400 of these are high priority cases, more than double a year ago.

The Review supports the decision to lift the National Terrorist Threat Level on 12 September last year. 

Since then, we have witnessed the frenzied attack on two police officers in Melbourne and the horror of the Martin Place siege. Twenty people have been arrested and charged as a result of six counter terrorism operations conducted around Australia. That’s one third of all terrorism-related arrests since 2001 – all within the space of six months. 

The Review confirmed that Australia has strong, well-coordinated counter-terrorism arrangements and there is no reason to make major structural changes.  

The Government will implement the Review’s recommendations to strengthen the coordination of our agencies, introduce initiatives to counter violent extremism and manage the return of foreign fighters, and implement measures to improve community understanding of the threat level.

The Government will appoint a National Counter Terrorism Coordinator to bring the same drive, focus and results to our counter terrorism efforts that worked so well to stop the boats in Operation Sovereign Borders.

A new national counter-terrorism strategy will be developed, in close cooperation with the states and territories, to better coordinate our efforts to counteract the threats we face including from home grown lone actors and radicalisation in our community.  

We will also develop a new national strategy to counter violent extremism and build community cohesion, which will be considered by COAG later this year.

The Review recommends the current Public Alert System for terrorism warnings be replaced with a simpler and clearer system. The Government will develop a new system to provide more helpful information to Australians about what the threat actually is and what precautions people might take.

The Government will separately consider the Review’s options to address long term agency funding as part of the Budget process. In August 2014, the Government announced $632 million in additional funding over the next four years for agencies involved in counter-terrorism. This funding responded to reduced agency expenditure on counter-terrorism since 2009 and supports new programmes to bolster monitoring and disruption activities in Australia and overseas.

All of these steps are about making our counter-terrorism arrangements stronger so that Australians are safer. 

They will significantly improve our counter-terrorism effort, making it more focused and more cohesive. Importantly, they will ensure we are as well placed as possible to tackle the increasing threat of terrorism in Australia. 

We cannot promise that there will be no more attacks. In the current threat environment, our agencies assess that a terrorist attack remains likely. However, this Government will do everything it reasonably can to make Australians safe from terrorism.

The full review can be found at www.dpmc.gov.au/pmc/publication/review-commonwealths-counter-terrorism-arrangements

Earlier this week, the hostages of the Lindt café, as well as the families of Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson were welcomed to this Parliament.

We acknowledged the atrocity that took place in Sydney’s CBD and we pledged to keep our country as safe and as secure as we humanly can.

Both the Commonwealth and State Governments are currently considering the joint review into the Martin Place siege and we will shortly release the report publicly, along with our response.

We are both determined to learn the lessons of this attack and will promptly take any necessary remedial action. 

I will also be making a national security statement on Monday week.

It’s clear to me, that for too long, we have given those who might be a threat to our country the benefit of the doubt.

There’s been the benefit of the doubt at our borders, the benefit of the doubt for residency, the benefit of the doubt for citizenship and the benefit of the doubt at Centrelink.

And in the courts, there has been bail, when clearly there should have been jail.

We are a free and fair nation. But that doesn’t mean we should let bad people play us for mugs, and all too often they have: Well, that’s going to stop.

The rise of the Islamist death cult in the Middle East has seen the emergence of new threats where any extremist can grab a knife, a flag, a camera phone and a victim and carry out a terror attack.

As a nation we are responding to this threat. Abroad, Australia is working with allies to disrupt and degrade the Islamist death cult. At home, we have provided our security services with more powers, more resources and stronger laws.

We are currently considering additional legislation on data retention that’s before the Parliament – and this will make it easier to keep you safe and we want to get this legislation passed as quickly as we can.

I give you this assurance: As a country, we won’t let evil people exploit our freedom.

I am proud to announce that my second son, Micah Damien Vasta, was born at a healthy 8lbs 7oz, 53cm, on Saturday, 7 February, at 1.40pm.

My wife Fang is doing well, and our son Zachary is overjoyed at the arrival of his new baby brother.

We have received so many kind words from the community. We are blessed to be able to raise our children among such caring people in the electorate of Bonner.

I look forward to returning to work in the coming weeks, doing my utmost to represent other families and the rest of my constituents in my electorate, and getting on with the job of government.

I thank my colleagues and friends in the community for their well wishes and support at this joyous time.

The benefits of a new $476 million Industry Skills Fund will be felt across Bonner, with Australian businesses now able to apply for support to boost the skills of their workforce.

“The fund will provide up to 200,000 training places and skills advice for businesses over the next four years, and is a key element of the Abbott Government’s Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda,” Federal Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta, said today.

“This is a new way of providing support to businesses that need to upskill or retrain their employees to enable their business to grow, diversify, adopt new technologies, or take advantage of new market opportunities.”

Mr Vasta encouraged businesses in Bonner that were part of the advanced manufacturing, food and agribusiness, medical technology, mining equipment, and oil, gas and energy resources, to apply for the Industry Skills Fund.

“Employers in Bonner will be supported to decide what training is needed in their business, and which training provider they want to work with, to boost their business productivity and competitiveness,” Mr Vasta said.  

The Fund will primarily target Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to better position themselves for growth opportunities. A business will be considered as ‘positioning for growth’ if the business falls into one or more of the following categories:

·                Diversifying into new or emerging markets and/or;

·                Adopting new or emerging technologies and/or;

·                Entering export markets for the first time and/or;

·                Responding to signification new domestic market opportunities and/or;

·                Repositioning because of market driven structural adjustment.

“In contrast, Labor wasted billions of dollars on skills programmes that failed to deliver training that led to real jobs – the era of training for training’s sake is over,” Mr Vasta said.

Businesses wanting support to train workers will be required to make a contribution to the cost of training. The co-contribution rate depends on the number of employees, with smaller businesses receiving higher levels of support.

Guidelines and more information are available at www.business.gov.au

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis, throughout the year.

Young people involved in the Habitat Improvement and Connectivity rehabilitation project in Mansfield have commenced on-ground works as part of the Australian Government’s Green Army, Federal Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta, said today.

Speaking from the project site, Mr Vasta said the Green Army team’s hard work was benefitting the region by restoring habitat and improving connectivity in the area.”

“To date, this team has undertaken extensive plantings and completed the removal of weeds and rubbish to regenerate this area,” Mr Vasta said.

“As this is only one part of this team’s five different locations, they are well along the way to completing this area to schedule, and I commend them for their hard work and enthusiasm.”

Participants will also be undertaking the following work as a part of the project:

– Brush-cutting;

– Identifying native species and priority weeds;

– Controlling weeds;

– Collecting and propagating seeds; and

– Monitoring and evaluation.

“In future, we will see first-hand the benefits and improvements made to our local environment through activities undertaken by the Green Army,” Mr Vasta said.

“These participants will not only be generating real environment and conservation benefits for our community, but they will be gaining valuable practical training and experience to help them prepare for the workforce or further their training and improve their career opportunities.”

The Green Army is a key Government commitment with $525 million budgeted over four years.

The Programme will encourage practical, grassroots action to support local environment and heritage conservation projects across Australia, providing training to 15,000 young Australians by 2018.

This investment in the Green Army will bring the Government's total investment in natural resource management to more than $2 billion over four years.

Further opportunities to join a Green Army project can be found online at www.environment.gov.au/green-army. 

I would like to wish you all a very happy and joyful Christmas this year.

In this season of giving, it is important to reflect on our good fortune as Australians that we are able to enjoy the holidays with our loved ones in relative peace and prosperity.

We must also keep in our thoughts those less fortunate among us, and help out where we can to ensure those who are struggling can also experience the joy of Christmas.

I have been privileged to meet and help so many kind and generous people this year. Ours is a truly wonderful community, and I urge you to come out and join others in the Christmas festivities at any number of upcoming local events. You can find upcoming Christmas events on my online Community Noticeboard at www.rossvasta.com.au.

I thank the residents, businesses and organisations of Bonner for all your support throughout 2014. I hope the New Year brings you untold happiness, good health and success.

I look forward to working with you all in 2015 and beyond.

In a big step towards Australian children being better protected against cyberbullying when they go online, the Enhancing Online Safety for Children Bill 2014 has been introduced in the Commonwealth Parliament, Federal Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta, said today.

“Parents, schools, teachers and children in Bonner have given me extensive feedback about the harmful effects of cyberbullying, and the impact it can have on young people,” Mr Vasta said.

“This bill will play a significant role in addressing the growing problem of cyberbullying, and will enhance online safety for children in our community.”

The Bill was introduced into Parliament by Paul Fletcher MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications.

“This is about delivering on our election promise to enhance online safety for children,” said Mr Fletcher.

“With research showing that one in five Australian children are the victims of cyber-bullying, this Bill brings powerful new tools to help keep children safe online.”

 The Enhancing Online Safety for Children Bill 2014 includes a range of measures to combat cyberbullying and provide a safer online environment for children, including:

 · Establishing the office of the Children’s e-Safety Commissioner (theCommissioner) and setting out the Commissioner’s functions and powers;

 · Creating an effective complaints system for harmful cyberbullying material targeted at an Australian child, with the Commissioner given two sets of powers it can use in responding to a complaint:

  o    The power to issue a notice to a large social media service (social media service notice) requiring it to remove the material;

o    The power to issue a notice to the person who posted the material (end-user notice) requiring the person to remove the material, refrain from posting the material or apologise for posting the material.

The measures in the Bill are designed to encourage large social media services to work cooperatively with the Commissioner under what is called ‘tier 1’.

However, if a large social media service repeatedly fails to respond to a notice from the Commissioner, then it can be moved to ‘tier 2’, meaning that it has a legal duty to remove cyberbullying material if it receives a notice from the Commissioner, and faces substantial fines if it does not.

“We have consulted very extensively – with schools, parents, kids from ages 5 to 17, social media services and other stakeholders – both in opposition and in government,” Ross Vasta said.

“The message from the community is loud and clear – government must act to fight cyberbullying and help keep Aussie kids safer online.”

The Commissioner will take a national leadership role in children’s online safety initiatives across government to develop and implement policies to improve safety for children online. The Commissioner’s office will be established as an independent statutory office with in the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The Commissioner will work closely with police and other government agencies, as well as the internet industry, child protection organisations, and parent and teacher associations.

The Commissioner will administer funding of $7.5 million for online safety programmes in schools and $0.1 million to support Australian-based research and information campaigns on online safety.

The $7 Medicare co-payment measure announced in the 2014-15 Budget will no longer proceed.

The Government will instead implement a package of measures that will strengthen Medicare and help make it sustainable, ensuring Australians will continue to have access to affordable, world-class health care.

The Government has listened to the views of the community. 

This new package ensures the Government can make Medicare sustainable, improve the quality of care for patients and continue its repair of the Budget.

The Medicare rebate paid to doctors for some consultations will be reduced by $5 and the troublesome issue of ‘six minute medicine’ will be addressed by encouraging doctors to spend more time with patients.

Optional co-payment and protection for patients

A new optional co-payment will be introduced for GP services with additional protections for patients.

The Government will not impose a co-payment on GP services provided to pensioners, Commonwealth concession card holders, all children under the age of 16, veterans funded through the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, attendances at residential aged care facilities and pathology and diagnostic imaging services. 

Incentives paid to doctors to encourage them to bulk bill concession card holders and children under the age of 16 will also remain.

Medicare rebates for common GP consultations will be reduced by $5 for non-concessional patients aged 16 and over from 1 July 2015.

Doctors may choose to recoup the $5 rebate reduction through an optional co-payment or continue to bulk bill non-concessional patients over the age of 16. 

Doctors will be under no obligation to charge the co-payment and this decision will be entirely at their discretion.

Improving patient outcomes by tackling ‘six minute medicine’

In a further move to streamline Medicare and improve quality outcomes, the Government will make changes to standard GP consultation items which currently provide the same Medicare rebate for a six minute consultation as for a 19 minute consultation.

This change will ensure that Medicare expenditure more accurately reflects the time a GP spends with a patient.

It encourages a shift away from ‘six minute medicine’ so that appropriate, comprehensive care is better rewarded over patient throughput. 

Additionally Medicare fees for all services provided by GPs, medical specialists, allied health practitioners, optometrists and others will remain at their current level until July 2018.

Making Medicare Sustainable and the Medical Research Future Fund

The Government is committed to taking these prudent measures to protect Medicare. 

Medicare will not survive in the long term without changes to make it sustainable.

In the last decade spending on Medicare has more than doubled from $8 billion in 2004 to $20 billion today, yet we raise only $10 billion from the Medicare levy. Spending is projected to climb to $34 billion in the next decade to 2024.

In the last year alone, 275 million services were provided free to patients. That’s three out of every four Medicare services being bulk billed.  

These changes will contribute more than $3 billion to the Medical Research Future Fund which will fund the research needed to find cures to the health problems of today. 

In six years the returns from the MRFF will provide a billion dollars to be invested in medical research annually – doubling our national funding commitments to researchers.