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| Firearms seized in raids in Victoria. Photograph: Julian Smith/AAP |
The government flagged the forthcoming firearms legislation on Friday, adding to its previous announcement about an imminent bill to expand the powers of intelligence agencies, including to access the computers of people who are not the primary subject of an investigation.
The attorney general, George Brandis, also signalled this week that the government was likely to pursue another set of changes to address gaps in existing laws and evidence-gathering barriers to deal with Australians returning from fighting in Iraq and Syria.
The outgoing national security legislation monitor, Bret Walker SC, whose office is being axed by the Coalition as part of the “red tape” reduction push, identified clear “defects” in current laws, including the inability to use evidence obtained from surveillance in a foreign country without permission from officials of that country.
Tony Abbott opened a crime conference in Melbourne on Friday by pointing to the “emerging threats” from overseas as evidence of the need for vigilance.
The prime minister alluded to the government’s hardline border protection policies in building a broader narrative about national security.
“Right now we face serious challenges from international events and these new and emerging threats make it more important than ever that we work together to keep our borders secure and keep our communities safe, to keep people who would do us harm under the closest possible supervision,” Abbott said.
“Our job is not just to keep the peace, our job is to enforce the law. Our job is to take sides. Our job is to be on the side of the law-abiding citizen against those who would do law-abiding citizens harm or against those who would exploit our generosity to do all of us harm.”
Paving the way for parliamentary debate over security legislation, Abbott said the government would “have more to say about other measures to tackle crime and to secure our borders and in particular to respond effectively to the threat posed by radicalised and militarised people seeking to re-enter Australia after jihadist activities abroad”.
“There is a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done to keep our borders secure and our streets safe,” he said.
In relation to gun laws, Abbott said the justice minister, Michael Keenan, would introduce a bill in the next few weeks ensuring uniform minimum mandatory five-year jail terms for illegally trafficking firearms into the country.
The prime minister said 250,000 illicit “long arms” and at least 10,000 illicit handguns were estimated to be in Australia. The measure was an election promise.
The Greens senator Penny Wright said the laws would do little to improve community safety because most illegal guns were not trafficked into Australia but were stolen from registered owners.
“That’s really where the focus needs to be,” she said, calling on the government to wait for the results of a forthcoming Senate committee inquiry on gun crime.
“Mandatory sentencing does not reduce crime – it only locks people up once the damage has been done.”
Abbott announced the forthcoming legislation at the first meeting of the Law, Crime and Community Safety Council, which brings together state, territory and federal ministers and law enforcement agencies.
He acknowledged the states and territories were mainly responsible for law and order, but said he was attending the meeting because the federal government wanted to do whatever it reasonably could to support the efforts.
The government, whose budget measures have proved to be unpopular with the public and will face difficulty in the Senate, has progressively stepped up its rhetoric about national security in the past few weeks.
Last month Abbott said the government would protect the country “not just from illegal boats but from returning jihadis as well”. But legislation to tackle the issue is yet to be presented to parliament.
The government has also stressed the need to work together with the Islamic community in Australia to prevent “radicalism and violent extremism”.
In a speech to imams last week, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the parliamentary secretary to the minister for social services, said it was “vitally important that the positive narrative of your contribution to Australia is not overshadowed by the negative publicity generated by the actions of a few”.
Members of Australia’s parliamentary intelligence committee will travel to London next week for an international conference pondering the challenges of effective intelligence oversight after disclosures by Edward Snowden. The Guardian
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