Julie Bishop: "We are defying the dark forces that threaten our freedoms."

In her Mamamia column this week, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop writes about peace, civil liberties, human rights, and Australia’s role in promoting them.

With one pencil and three words, Australian cartoonist David Pope poignantly conveyed the gravity of the terrorist attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last January.

Pope’s cartoon ‘He drew first’ was one of several powerful images that went viral as details of the vicious attack emerged, prompting global solidarity against an unprecedented and deliberate attack on freedom of speech.

Last week in Paris I presented Pope’s cartoon to the remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo as a gesture of sympathy and support to them but also – that Australia acknowledges a global challenge that extends well beyond their office.

Charlie Hebdo’s staff are among the many cartoonists and journalists playing a crucial role in ensuring that the flow of ideas is unabated and is shining a light on those that jeopardise our civil liberties.

Following the Paris attacks we were reminded of UNESCO’s founding principle – since wars begin in the minds of men and women, it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be constructed.

Related Content: Julie Bishop on why young Australian women are becoming radicalised.

The media has played a role in protecting our civil liberties for over 100 years.

It was an Australian journalist, Keith Murdoch, who helped expose the full horrors of war during the battle at Gallipoli. His letter home to the then Australian Prime Minister, Andrew Fisher, was recently inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.

One hundred years later we are again defying the dark forces that threaten the freedoms fiercely fought for by our soldiers.

The unwavering determination of Australians to attend commemorative events around the country and overseas despite reports of an alleged terror plot ahead of the Anzac Centenary is testament to our values and freedoms.

Related Content: These are the women we will be thinking about this ANZAC Day.

These values and freedoms must exist in a just and humane society where the role of law and justice is maintained.

Australia and the world is currently facing one of its greatest challenges to these freedoms in the emergence of a brutal terrorist organisation known as Da’esh.

Da’esh seeks to manipulate and radicalise the young and vulnerable, making use of social media, not as part of an open contest of ideas within a free society, but in order to spread a violent extremist ideology that seeks to undermine nation states.

Related content: Julie Bishop on how vulnerable young women are being persuaded to join Da’esh.

In June Australia will host a regional summit on combatting this terrorist narrative, and addressing on-line radicalisation. We are seeking to prevent the radicalisation of young Australians with mentoring, coaching, education and employment.

The Government has cancelled around 100 passports to stop Australians from travelling to conflict zones and we are taking action against foreign fighters who take part in conflicts overseas and then come back to Australia to carry out attacks here.

We have boosted the powers of our intelligence agencies and will also remove extremist material that poses a security threat from the internet.

In a free society, such measures will always be the subject of debate.

It is important to remember, however, that these steps have been taken to defend our community against very real threats. We are seeking to protect our peaceful and democratic community against those who promote a violent and undemocratic alternative.

Our country embraces freedoms– freedom of thought, worship, speech and association.

The Government has ensured that the measures we have taken to counter terrorism are accompanied by significant safeguards so that they cannot be exercised in a way that exceeds their legitimate policy intent.

In adjusting to the challenges of the current security environment, we must remain positive about the strength and stability of our society, our robust democracy and our engagement with other countries.

Australia must continue to foster a sense of global citizenship among our young people by championing the values of peace, human rights, cultural diversity and justice.