Protecting Australians from Foreign Terrorist Fighters Bill 2026
Senator SHOEBRIDGE (New South Wales) (09:25): Well, here we go: the performance art of One Nation, with their little tame poodles in the coalition. I knew where the coalition was going to vote, because One Nation has already told them where they're going to vote. I watched them yesterday, on the social media ban.
It looked like the coalition were actually going to support the legislation to put increased penalties on big tech, and they were about to come over here and vote for it. But then they saw, out of the corner of their eye, that One Nation were going to oppose it, and you could see them flip on the floor. It's like a complete jelly of a political position.
Listen to what the coalition says—'Oh, there are problems with the bill,' and 'Oh, someone says this won't work and that won't work.' But at the end of the day, you could just ignore all the guff, because they haven't got the guts to stand up to One Nation and their completely unprincipled, unconstitutional performance guff that they bring in on this. It's just pathetic; it is utterly pathetic, watching the coalition in this place—utterly contemptible.
I'd say to everyone: watch the vision yesterday on the vote. Watch what happened. They were all trotting over here to vote for it, and then, out of the corner of their eye, they saw their marching orders from One Nation.
What's the point of the coalition? I can't work it out. And this lot—One Nation—are bringing in a piece of legislation that they know is unconstitutional, that they know is going to get struck down by the courts.
If it ever does pass—and I hope it won't—it'll have the shelf life of a prawn sandwich in a Canberra summer. They know that. It's got about 15 minutes on it before it turns off and makes you sick.
That's what they're bringing in here. But they don't care, because it's actually not about policy for them. It's not about whatever they say about protecting Australians.
That's not their agenda; they know it won't work. All this is about is clickbait, and it's about driving down their little toxic algorithms, because they think the Elon Musk acceleration plan will get their unconstitutional guff and their outrage politics—their little algorithm—going, and maybe they'll season it with their other disgraceful attacks on people.
That's what they're doing. That's what this is about. It's not about policy.
It's not about law. It's about their nasty little unprincipled attacks. They'll come out and call people who serve this country traitors.
Look at this lot; look at them. That's what they are. We're seeing them for what they are: unprincipled, do anything, drag our politics down to the lowest possible ebb.
That's what this is all about. Then they have the gall to come in here and say they care about holding ISIS fighters to account. My party does care.
My party wants to see ISIS fighters taken into court, prosecuted and held to account. That's why I went off to north-east Syria to meet with the people who defeated ISIS—not like this lot, who went for a nice little holiday with a billionaire at a poolside resort in Sicily. That wasn't me.
That was the leader of One Nation, going off on a billionaire funded jaunt at some luxury poolside. That's what the leader of One Nation was doing. I'll tell you what I did: I went and met the people who defeated ISIS.
They died defeating ISIS. And they didn't die in their tens; they died in their thousands, going into the battlefield and defeating ISIS. I thought that's where you might learn how to defeat this kind of toxic ideology—actually meeting with the people who went in on the ground, in the dust, in the dirt and fought the fight and beat ISIS.
Do you know what they say about One Nation? They say this is contemptible, disgusting, base politics that will do nothing to keep the world safe. I'll tell you what would keep the world safe: all the things this mob oppose.
We need to fund international tribunals, the International Criminal Court, who can actually hold the trials to bring these people to account and put them in jail for their crimes, and actually fund the justice system. This is what happens. This is what you find out when you go and you speak to the people who, unlike these pontificating low-life politicians who will do anything for a clickbait, actually defeated ISIS.
For example, the Co-Chair of the Department of External Affairs in the Democratic Autonomous Administration for North and East Syria, a bloke called Bedran Çiya Kurd—one of the people who actually put a uniform on, went in and fought ISIS. He says none of One Nation's guff, none of the talk. This is what this is what Bedran says—I want to be clear; this is the administration that is keeping ISIS fighters in detention, because they saw the crimes that they did, and they're in their country, and they're keeping them in detention.
It doesn't matter which country they came from. These are the people actually keeping us safe. These are the people, not One Nation and their pontification, their politics and their attacking of Australians.
It's not that lot. They're not doing it. These are the people who are doing it, and this is what they say: We can no longer keep these prisoners without an indictment or trial.
These people must be held accountable for their crimes. They remain a danger not only to the region, but to the entire world. These are thousands of the most brutal ISIS fighters.
We cannot keep them anymore. It is creating a security problem for our region. Why aren't we listening to the people on the ground?
Why aren't we funding the tribunals that can actually hold the trials, hear the evidence and issue the penalties? It's because this lot hate that. There's not a single cent that they would spend on having the trials, holding the ISIS fighters to account, convicting them of their crimes and then keeping them in detention.
They hate that entire project, and that's why they come in here with their distraction politics, their unconstitutional legislation that's got the shelf life of a prawn sandwich on a hot Canberra day. That's why they do this. I'll tell you what Bedran says—not One Nation, not the pontificators over here and not the hot air bunch over here, but the people who fought and defeated ISIS.
This is what he says: We gave more than 13,000 martyrs in this fight to defeat ISIS— Just stopping there, how different are they to One Nation? They gave more than 13,000 martyrs to fight ISIS. They're the people we should be listening to, not someone who goes off on a jaunt with a billionaire to a luxury poolside Sicilian resort.
Talk to the people on the ground, who lost 13,000 martyrs in the fight against ISIS. He says this: And we have thousands of wounded, injured, and disabled, who have sacrificed. This is why it is important to get justice.
But we also want to keep international standards for these trials. ISIS is reorganizing itself and getting stronger … Two years ago, we had to carry out 113 operations against ISIS sleeper cells and we arrested 260 members. But in the previous year, we have had to carry out more than 2,000 such operations.
These are the people on the ground fighting, still doing it. No wonder that the leader of One Nation didn't go out and actually visit Syria. I think she tried to, but no-one would meet with her, because they have complete contempt for her and complete contempt for the politics of One Nation.
Maybe it was that Channel 7 wouldn't pay for it. Maybe Kerry Stokes wouldn't pay for it. Maybe they couldn't get Gina to pay for a luxury tour to Syria.
That's why they didn't go and meet with them. They were too busy drinking champagne and going to a fashion show in Milan—too busy doing that to actually get out and talk with the people who defeated ISIS. There was a lot of puff.
Do you remember that? 'I'm going to go and talk and go onto the ground.' It ended up being, 'No, I'd rather go to a fashion show in Milan,' because actually that's their class. That's One Nation's class—the entitled billionaire class who they go schmoozing with around the world and who are backing in this kind of politics. It turns out the entitled class like this kind of distraction politics.
They don't care if it's unconstitutional. They don't care if it won't protect Australians. 'Just go and do your distraction politics over here so they can keep their profits and keep gouging us.' That's why they shared their champagne on some poolside in a Sicilian resort. That's why they went together to their fashion show in Milan.
It's because they share values with the billionaire class. They love it. Maybe you should go and talk not to the billionaire class but to the people who defeated ISIS.
Maybe they're who we should take our advice from. This is what Bedran also says: We have called up the international community and asked them for support. But they have all failed to respond or assist us with these ISIS trials.
The struggle against terror cannot only be carried out literally on the battlefield, but it must be confronted in a court of law. So far, the fight and struggle against terrorism was only on the military level. But this is not sufficient.
We need to address it on the security and judiciary level but also understand its social origins. We must defeat terrorism holistically. The Greens support backing in this lot, backing in the ones who fought and defeated ISIS and who actually have a plan to hold these fighters to account, to create the trials and to deliver justice for all of the victims.
I can't tell you what a contrast that is. These are good and brave people who lost their friends, who lost their family and who actually know how to defeat ISIS. Reflect on this for a moment—the contrast between them and a bunch of clickbait politicians who sit on a poolside in Sicily with a billionaire.
Whose side do you reckon you should be on in this fight?