‘Australia cannot handle a terror attack alone’ - Turnbull urges intel-sharing and upgrades terror alert system
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is urging better intelligence sharing across Southeast Asia in light of the Paris attacks. He also said that Australia cannot go against ISIL unilaterally, more so in the event of an online attack.
The prime minister encouraged law enforcement officials to check if they can handle a mass attack like what happened in Paris. Turnbull cited the West's global alert for people travelling to France and Mali including the increasing global threat. Furthermore, he called out for better intelligence with countries Australians often visit, like Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
"From an Australian perspective, we see a real risk that terrorist groups in the region might be inspired by attacks such as we have seen in Ankara, Beirut, Bamako and Paris and we are very mindful of the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians visit Southeast Asia every year," said Turnbull in a national security address to the parliament.
"Just as Australia cannot fight any military conflict against ISIL unilaterally, we cannot counter violent extremism alone, particularly online," he added in reference to an acronym used for the Islamic State.
Australia has also been on increased alert since the attack of home-grown radicals. In September, a Melbourne teenager stabbed two terrorism officers, prompting officials to shoot him down. A central Sydney cafe also saw two hostages killed after a lone gunman locked it down for 17 hours.
Also in light of the new focus to abate terror attacks, the Australian government has decided to upgrade its terror alert system. The new National Terrorism Threat Advisory System works with five new colour-coded levels corresponding to the following: “not expected” (green), “possible” (blue), “probable” (yellow), “expected” (orange) and “certain” (red). Under the new system, "high" is no longer part of the Australia's threat level. The government has changed it to "probable." The changes were in light of the Islamic State attacks overseas and the increasing radicalisation and recruitment of Australians to be part of the group.
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