Malcolm Turnbull has ruled out dramatically ramping up Australia’s military role in the Middle East and reinforced his plea for community unity at home in a security speech aimed at reassuring people about efforts to prevent terrorism.
The prime minister said the government was working to keep people safe and revealed he had asked law enforcement agencies to test their responses to a mass-casualty attack because there was little room for negotiation.
But he also warned against being “fooled by the hype” of Islamic State (Isis) and called for calm and effective action against terrorism rather than anger-fuelled “gestures or machismo”. He restated support for multiculturalism and urged the community to uphold mutual respect, saying “our unity mocks their attempts to divide us”.
In a speech to parliament on Tuesday, Turnbull provided an update on the domestic and global security situation after deadly attacks in Paris in France, Ankara in Turkey, Beirut in Lebanon and Bamako in Mali, and the apparent downing of a Russian airliner in Egypt.
“We should grieve and we should be angry, but we must not let grief or anger cloud our judgment,” he said.
“Our response must be as clear-eyed and strategic as it is determined. This is not a time for gestures or machismo. Calm, clinical, professional, effective – that’s how we defeat this menace.”
Turnbull said the government had no plans for a significant change in the level or nature of Australia’s military commitment in Iraq and Syria, rebuffing calls by his predecessor, Tony Abbott, and the former defence minister, Kevin Andrews, for a greater contribution to fighting Isis on the battlefield.
He said Australia’s contribution to coalition forces on the ground in Iraq was second only to that of the US and was large relative to the country’s population and proximity to the conflict. Australia had six strike fighters involved in bombing raids in Iraq and Syria, 240 personnel in the air task group, 90 special forces advisers and 300 soldiers training the Iraqi army.
Turnbull said the Iraqi government had not consented to any of Australia’s defence forces being deployed outside the wire on ground combat operations, and Baghdad believed large-scale western troop deployments would be counterproductive.
Ultimately a political solution would be needed in Syria. He argued the territorial gains of Isis had fed into its narrative of conquest, but the group was in a fundamentally weak position and its momentum had been halted.
“We must not be fooled by its hype,” Turnbull said. “Its ideology is archaic, but its use of the internet is very modern. [It] has many more smartphones than guns, more Twitter accounts than fighters.”
Addressing the security situation at home, Turnbull said the Australian government could not eliminate the risk of terrorism but was working to thwart and frustrate attacks. The government was working more closely than ever to share intelligence and counter-messaging strategies with counterparts across the region, including Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) and the Australian federal police had told him there was “no evidence that the recent attacks, including Paris, will materially affect the threat level in Australia but we are constantly on watch for any evolving or emerging threats”.
“As prime minister, and speaking on behalf of the heads of Asio and the AFP, as well as the chief of the defence force, I want Australians to be aware that a terrorist incident on our soil remains likely but also that Australians should be reassured our security agencies are working diligently and expertly to prevent that happening,” he said.
Turnbull said Australia was the most successful multicultural society in the world, but as an island continent had “some natural advantages over Europe” because it was in control of its borders and had strong gun laws that restricted access to weapons.
He was receiving daily intelligence updates on the implications of the Paris attacks. The government’s actions to keep the community safe included:
- Asking Asio to work with international intelligence partners on the challenge of monitoring terrorist groups in the new environment of modern communications;
- Asking law-enforcement agencies to test their responses to a mass-casualty attack;
- Rolling out the planned new system for categorising the national terrorism threat level this week;
- Meeting state and territory leaders next month to discuss countering violent extremism, including the problem of radicalisation in prisons.
Turnbull thanked Muslim leaders for denouncing the attacks on the French capital. In doing so, he struck a different tone from Abbott, who used a national security address in February to call for more Muslim leaders to describe Islam as a religion of peace “more often, and mean it”.
Turnbull said Isis was acting on a “perverted view of Islam” and wanted to create division by fomenting resentment between non-Muslim populations and Muslims.
“A strong and trusting relationship between the government and communities is crucial to ensuring the right messages reach the hearts and minds of those who might be vulnerable to the propaganda of terror groups,” he said.
“Importantly, governments cannot win this battle alone. Community leaders and groups have great responsibility both in denouncing violent extremism and teaching unity in diversity, mutual respect instead of hatred.
“We will defeat these terrorists, and the strongest weapons we bring to this battle are ourselves, our values, our way of life,” he said.
“Our unity mocks their attempts to divide us. Our freedom under law mocks their cruel tyranny. Our mutual respect mocks their bitter intolerance.
“And the strength of our free people will see off these thugs and tyrants as it has seen off so many of their kind before.”
Some of the themes of the speech expanded on the points Turnbull made when he was communications minister in Abbott’s government. Turnbull said in a July speech that governments should take care “not to say or do things which can be seen to add credibility” to the delusions of Isis.
Bill Shorten, who also addressed the parliament, said terrorism was an affront to all humanity. He reaffirmed the importance of “a diverse, generous and inclusive multicultural society”.
The opposition leader said the “tiny twisted minority” of Australians who sought to carry out acts of terrorism did not reflect the values of Islam. “I have heard many Muslim leaders say Islam is a religion of peace; I know they mean it and I thank them for that leadership,” he said.
Shorten described Isis as weak and deluded and “an enemy of Islam and an enemy of people everywhere”.
Australians were anxious about security, he said, but should take heart from the knowledge that the country’s security agencies and defence force were among “the very best and bravest in the world”.
He backed Turnbull’s position of not unilaterally sending ground combat units into Syria, saying the history of western-led intervention in the region was “poor to say the least” and an escalated presence would feed the propaganda of Isis.
The Labor leader said it was fine to talk about pragmatism in the search for peace but added that any political solution must not result in the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, remaining in power in the long term.
The leader of the Greens, Richard Di Natale, said Turnbull’s speech marked a welcome departure from Abbott’s “divisive and aggressive language”, but called on the prime minister to stop the airstrikes and dump the government’s citizenship revocation legislation.
