Tony Abbott: Australia Must Upgrade Its Security In ‘New Era Of Terrorism’

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will announce on Monday that at least 400 people are on the country’s suspected terror list, all deemed to be “high-risk” individuals who are capable of carrying out terror attacks against civilians.

The prime minister’s upcoming security speech is expected to announce a number of new strategies to fight terrorism, following a review of the current security measures in place.

The review already noted that “Australia has entered a new, long-term era of heightened terrorism threat, with a much more significant home-grown element. It assesses that the terrorist threat in Australia is rising. On all metrics, the threat to Australia is worsening.”

Abbott is expected to unveil plans to increase funding for national security agencies, as well as ro strip dual nationality citizens of their citizenships should they present a terror threat.

When Mr. Abbott released the review into the Sydney siege today, he said, “There is an ongoing and inevitable debate in a country such as ours … between the rights of the individual and the protection of the community. My judgment is that – while having always to respect both – the question of precisely where we draw the line in the era of terrorism will have to be reconsidered and the line may have to be redrawn.”

For Abbott, as for many Australians, something clearly has to be done about the current threat of terror in the country, which is high.

As he said previously regarding radical Islamic terrorism, “Plainly, this monster should not have been in our community. The difficulty is that while he was well and truly on a lot of radar screens, he was routinely assessed as not being a threat to himself or to the community.”

It remains to be seen precisely what Tony Abbott will say in his speech tomorrow, as he tries to assure the people of Australia that the authorities are doing what they can, as best they can, to see off any future terror threat in Australia.