COUNTER-TERRORISM & STATE SECURITY
Current Threat
"A 'terrorist act' is an act or threat, intended to advance a political, ideological or religious cause by coercing or intimidating an Australian or foreign government or the public, by causing serious harm to people or property, creating a serious risk of health and safety to the public, disrupting trade, critical infrastructure or electronic systems."
( Criminal Code Act 1995 [Commonwealth])
The threat of terrorism is not new and, while a trend to greater sophistication and organisation is apparent, terrorists' aims and motivation have not changed. Terrorist acts can involve:
- Arson;
- Bomb threat / hoax or an actual bombing;
- Chemical, biological or radiological incident;
- Hostage taking / kidnapping;
- Assassination;
- Sabotage;
- Product tampering; and
- Cyber terrorism.
Australia has adopted a four-level system of national counter-terrorism alert:
- Low - terrorist attack is not expected
- MEDIUM - terrorist attack could occur
- High - terrorist attack is likely
- Extreme - terrorist attack is imminent or has occurred
The current national level of alert is MEDIUM, as it has been since September 2001.
The system was not introduced as a reaction to any particular threat; rather it is a sensible arrangement to inform national preparation and planning and to provide greater flexibility for responses.
Changes to the National Counter-Terrorism Alert System introduced in October 2008 mean that it is now a more flexible, tiered system that may be applied where necessary nationally, across impacted States or Territories, industry/business sectors, or geographic locations.
The changes mean that Australian governments will now be able to change an alert level in a targeted way, without any significant impact to non-affected communities, industry/business sectors or locations.
The public would be advised immediately should any information be received which would cause a change to the assessed level