Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Arts and Attorney-General) (14:22): As you know, Senator Fawcett, keeping Australians safe and secure is the highest responsibility of government, and that is reflected in the budget priorities. The Abbott government has boosted counter-terrorism funding for our law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies by some $1.1 billion. That includes an additional $450 million in last night's budget to strengthen intelligence capabilities and to counter extremist messaging. Within that $450 million is: $296 million to strengthen the capabilities of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, including updating its IT systems; $22 million to counter terrorism propaganda online; and $131 million to assist telecommunications providers to upgrade their system so they can retain metadata for two years. I might mention that Senator Wright, in a question she directed to Senator Abetz yesterday, asserted that all of the spend has been on the agencies. That is not true at all. As well as the $1.1 billion invested in the agencies, we have expended an additional $545 million over four years to support social cohesion and community based programs. The government is also providing a further $750 million in this budget to extend Australia's military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East. That includes $382 million for the ADF operations to disrupt and degrade ISIL, or Daesh, in Iraq, combating violent extremism at its source as part of the international coalition.