Senator SANDY MACDONALD (3:09 PM) —I wish to take note of answers to questions asked of Senator Ellison as well. Before I do so, in connection with this I want to pay tribute to Paul Moran, the ABC cameraman who was killed in northern Iraq over the weekend. Paul Moran was not a war correspondent; he was a cameraman. War correspondents have always been brave, but they are particularly brave now with the way that war is reported on. Paul Moran was accompanied by Eric Campbell, who is well known to all of us who watch ABC television. These war correspondents become very much a part of our lives. I pay tribute to Paul Moran for the job that he did in northern Iraq and acknowledge the fact that he was killed by terrorist groups that were associated with al-Qaeda. I also wish Eric Campbell very well.

In connection with the question asked of Senator Ellison, this is really a question of semantics. I cannot really see what the Labor opposition are getting at here. The government is acting responsibly. It says that there is a heightened level of threat. We do not have a colour-coded system like the US, which I tend to think is more alarmist than able to make people alert. Our government is responsible. It wishes to make people aware of potential threats, but it does not colour-code. It makes people alert and not alarmed. We do not have the system they have in the UK, which I think is a numbered system.

Clearly, the government acts with the best advice possible. It is not vexatious on these matters. In terms of security matters, governments have to be responsible and informed. They know information that other people do not know—that is the way it has to be. The war against terror, as we know, is not a war in the sense of having a known enemy; it is a grinding of intelligence that makes it possible for governments to take responsible decisions about their citizens. As I said, the government acts in accordance with advice it takes from its security services, which are not only very good but very well resourced and getting better. Their job will be made a great deal easier if the legislation presently before the House of Representatives, which has been to this chamber, providing greater assistance to ASIO to investigate matters of concern and security of the Australian people is passed through this place.

The overall threat in Australia has not changed from the beginning of the war in Iraq. It remains at a heightened level following 11 September last year, with the special alert issued by the government on 19 December last year remaining current. When advice about security is required, the government gives it. The specific advice given about the Surabaya threat was for 22 March. If there is a threat, the government provides information about that threat in a very responsible way. As the government has indicated, some specific threat levels in respect of some defence facilities and foreign interests in Australia have been raised. Quite obviously, we are in a state of war, and some security arrangements have been tightened as a matter of prudence. But threat levels in respect of US and UK interests have not changed and have been at `high' for some time. We are in a heightened state of threat level.

Threat levels against Australian interests in a number of countries, especially in the Middle East, have been raised because of the war. The government has been totally open and transparent about this through the DFAT travel advisories. Only yesterday, my sister went overseas. I take a very keen interest in the travel advisories for where she was going, which happened to be somewhere in the Middle East. She is quite conscious of the risks, and that information was provided to her by the DFAT travel advisories. Clearly— and it is quite obvious why, in view of the announcement yesterday in respect of Surabaya—the threat levels have not been raised in some countries; they have remained high all the time. The government has been open with the Australian people since September 11 in sharing as far as it can information relevant to public policy. That is what a responsible government does. It wishes to make the population aware of possible threats but not to alarm them. (Time expired)