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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-08-28 Daily Xml
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Terror Suspects

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (15:18): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking questions of the Attorney-General regarding terror suspects in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: On 25 July this year—that is between the last sitting week and this one—a South Australian teenager was arrested by police for allegedly possessing extremist material and instructions for an explosive, which he had accessed while he was at a South Australian school. The teen, who has been charged with a suite of terror offences, was released on home detention bail earlier this month and permitted to return to the classroom where he is said to have accessed the extremist material in the first place.

As part of his bail conditions, the boy has been prohibited from possessing or accessing any electronic device connected to the internet. Importantly, I note that he is actually the third South Australian teenager to be arrested on terror charges in just the last four months. My questions to the Attorney-General are: firstly, given Australia's terror alert was recently raised to probable by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, is the Attorney-General concerned about a known radicalised youth attending school in these circumstances and, specifically, the school where he was able to access this material?

Secondly, is the Attorney-General aware of whether the child concerned has actually been attending school and, if so, have the parents of other students in that school been consulted about the child's attendance, and what have they been instructed if so? Thirdly, what action is being taken to ensure the teenager in question is actually adhering to his bail conditions, particularly with regard to accessing the internet, given that most students require an electronic device in order to undertake their schooling these days?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in community safety, which is reflected in a number of the questions that the honourable member asks in this chamber. In relation to the individual the honourable member refers to, given a matter, as the honourable member has said, is before the courts—and I am not aware, but in many of these matters it is often subject to further investigation—I am not going to comment on the specific details of the individual concerned, but I will in relation to the honourable member's latter questions about adherence to conditions.

I know when conditions are placed down the bail authorities are often very diligent in ensuring people comply with conditions, and that would be the expectation no matter who the person is. In relation to questions about terror suspects generally, or radicalisation, of course it is something I think that concerns not just those in government, particularly those with the responsibility for elements of the justice system as I do as Attorney-General, but all ministers generally, and I am sure all of us here and all South Australians.

The world is an increasingly more connected place, and with that comes really complicated areas of radicalisation, as we see not just in Australia but around the world. One thing that I think we can all take a degree of comfort from is just how impressive our intelligence services and our law enforcement organisations work, and work cooperatively when we see these sorts of threats to our safety. The fact that things like this are being detected, that they are being investigated, and they are being prosecuted shows the sophistication of those who monitor these sorts of activities, not just in Australia but around the world, and those who are responsible for their enforcement.

As I said, it is a very different world to how the world was generations ago, but even 10 or 20 years ago the access to information, the ability to share information so much more comprehensively and so much more quickly, and the complexity of what we see in terms of things like radicalisation is more complicated than it has ever been before. So whilst I can't comment specifically on something that is going through the justice system and may be subject to further investigation, I think we can certainly all take some degree of comfort that these things are being detected, detected at an early stage, acted upon, and that we have a high degree of proficiency in our intelligence organisations, our law enforcement in Australia, that seeks to make sure harm doesn't come to citizens through these activities.

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