SYDNEY - Singapore and Australia on Friday agreed to cooperate on combating violent extremism and ensuring that technology firms prevent the spread of hate speech and intolerance in the wake of the Christchurch mass shooting.
At a press conference after the meeting, Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, said that new media and technologies had allowed for the promotion of hate speech and posed a threat to the"broad centre" of society. Dr Balakrishnan added:"It is something that governments, the private sector and civil society will have to engage in."
"We have certainly agreed today that there is significant opportunity for us to work together," she said. The meeting reaffirmed the deal to allow Singaporean troops to train in the Australian state of Queensland. Construction is due to commence on the facilities later this year. The deal will eventually allow 14,000 Singapore Armed Forces personnel to train in central and north Queensland for 18 weeks a year for 25 years.
"We again agreed on the need to have intelligence sharing, both in anticipation of the returned fighters from Iraq and Syria, as well as unfortunately, the expected reprisals coming out from the Christchurch incident," he said.