August 11, 2023
The Minister responsible for counterterrorism, Clare O’Neil, appears to have been quietly stripped of her role in listing terrorist organisations in another embarrassing vote of no confidence by the Albanese government after the Department of Home Affairs was gutted when Minister O’Neil was first appointed.
As reported by Sky News, the Albanese government has shifted responsibility for terrorist proscriptions – previously a key role of the Minister for Home Affairs – to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. The most recent re-listing of Islamic State, Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram, which was due to expire on 1 July, omits all references to the Minister for Home Affairs’ consideration of the listing, unlike all previous listing processes.
The decision follows my scrutiny in Senate Estimates of the significant delays to list a terrorist organisation since Labor’s machinery of government changes. Under the Coalition government, it took just six days of ministerial consideration to relist a terrorist organisation. But after the Labor government gutted the Department of Home Affairs, and duplicated responsibility across two ministers and two departments – the Minister for Home Affairs and the Attorney-General – the time taken for ministers to consider listing a terrorist organisation had blown out to 22 days.
It has now been revealed that the Home Affairs Minister has been dropped from the process, with proscription responsibilities now being only undertaken by the Attorney-General. Australia’s counter-terrorism framework is now in the bizarre situation where the Minister responsible for fighting terrorism has no involvement in listing terrorist organisations.
The Coalition’s first priority in government was to keep Australians safe. I am deeply concerned that the Albanese government’s slicing and dicing of Australia’s proven national security framework makes us vulnerable to those seeking to do us harm.
