АвстралияIn September 2014, for the first time, Australia’s National Terrorism Public Alert Level was raised to High. This reflected the judgement of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) that a terrorist attack was likely. The heightened threat level is likely to endure.
Australian governments are proactively dealing with the threat. We are working with our international partners and with the Australian community to lower the risk of a terrorist attack and strengthen our ability to respond to, and recover from, any attack.
The purpose of releasing this Strategy is to provide information to the community on the threat Australia faces and what we are doing to counter it. Importantly, it highlights the community’s role in preventing, preparing for, responding to and recovering from a terrorist attack.
This Strategy sets out the framework for Australia’s counter-terrorism arrangements. It situates the current terrorism threat within the global context and articulates how we are countering it. It sits above and is complemented by the National Counter‑Terrorism Plan; an important resource that outlines governance and jurisdictional arrangements and operational responsibilities for preventing, preparing, responding to and recovering from domestic terrorist attacks.
Our Strategy is based on the following principles:
Terrorism and Australia
Globally, ISIL, AQ and associated groups represent the most significant terrorist threat.
These groups are motivated by a selective, violent and extreme interpretation of Islam. Such an interpretation is alien to the overwhelming majority of Muslims.
Though ISIL is the most threatening manifestation of this terrorist threat, AQ and some associated groups retain the intent and capability to mount major attacks.
ISIL, in particular, exerts a direct influence in Australia through its aggressive promotion of violent extremism. This group’s violent ideology, persuasive propaganda, and its grooming of young people online is directly responsible for the radicalisation to violent extremism of a significant number of individuals in our community. As a direct flow‑on result, there is now a higher risk of attacks by individuals or by small groups than ever before.
Violent extremist influences in Australia will be exacerbated by foreign fighters seeking to return from conflict zones in the Middle East. Some of these foreign fighters will seek to return with the skills, experience and a predisposition to violent action that will make them a significant risk to the community.
Terrorism based on other ideological, religious, or political beliefs – such as right wing or left wing extremists – is also of concern, though it does not represent the same magnitude of threat as that posed by violent extremists claiming to act in the name of Islam.
Resilience of the Australian community
The Australian community’s resilience is important to everything we do to counter terrorism. Building and maintaining our resilience allows us to push back against terrorists’ attempts to intimidate us and undermine social cohesion.
Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy
Australia’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy is based on partnerships between all levels of government, communities and the private sector. It is focussed on prevention as a first line of defence against terrorism. Our actions are informed by thorough analysis and assessments of violent extremism here and abroad.
This Strategy involves five core elements.
1. Challenging violent extremist ideologies
Australia’s task to constrain the terrorist threat is fundamentally about limiting the spread and influence of violent extremist ideas.
Governments are working with communities to counter violent extremist propaganda with carefully targeted messages. Our messages show people there are ways they can help improve the situation in Syria or Iraq, and ways they can find a sense of meaning and belonging in Australia, without resorting to violence.
Importantly, the information we provide shows the horror of living, killing and dying in the conflict zones, including exposing the horrific toll on local, overwhelmingly Muslim, populations.
We also seek to promote the values and ideas which underpin our society, ideas such as equality, respect, individual freedoms, democracy and the rule of law.
The exact messages conveying these themes are best developed and delivered by communities for their own members, though governments can help to facilitate them.
2. Stopping people from becoming terrorists
The most effective defence against terrorism is to prevent people from becoming terrorists in the first place.
To do this we work closely with the community: families, friends and community members are often in the best position to identify individuals who are at risk of radicalisation and help steer them away from violent extremism.
Our aim is to prevent extremists from exploiting vulnerable Australians and robbing them of their futures.
3. Shaping the global environment
Our efforts to counter terrorism in Australia are complemented by coordinated international action to make the global environment less conducive to terrorism. Australia works with international partners, including through the United Nations, to challenge terrorism.
We also engage with a wide number of partner countries to build capacity and capability, undertake joint operations, and exchange information to assist partner governments in detecting, monitoring and responding to terrorism.
Australia may also contribute to international military efforts to destroy or degrade major terrorist capabilities. Over the last decade, elements of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have been deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq for this purpose.
4. Disrupting terrorist activity within Australia
Our law enforcement and intelligence agencies are well-equipped to disrupt terrorist activity. They have a good history of disrupting numerous terrorist plots. Low-capability and limited-preparation attacks such as knife attacks present a challenge to police and intelligence agencies because they involve little or no lead time, making them difficult to detect. Given the absolute focus on saving lives, agencies will prioritise early disruption of a planned attack over waiting to gather further evidence for a successful prosecution.
Early disruption is also used to stop activities that support or facilitate terrorism, but which may fall short of specific attack planning. There are a range of methods that can be used to send a message to individuals that their activities have attracted the attention of authorities in an attempt to dissuade them from further action.
5. Effective response and recovery
If an attack does occur, we have robust arrangements in place to respond to any act of terrorism, from low-preparation to coordinated multi-jurisdiction mass-casualty attacks.
States and Territories lead the response to any attacks within their jurisdictions. They can request assistance from other States, Territories or the Commonwealth as required. States and Territories may also ask for the ADF to provide specialist skills or equipment to assist in response and recovery. State and Territory police and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are highly trained and well‑equipped to respond to a terrorist attack. Our police are skilled in investigation, negotiation, tactical response, defusing explosives, crisis management and hostage recovery, enabling effective responses to terrorist attacks across all jurisdictions. Our emergency response and health services are also well-prepared to respond to any terrorist incident.
Australian governments work closely with critical infrastructure and key service providers, including electricity, gas, water and transport utilities, to reduce the impact of any terrorist attack on such facilities and services.
In the event of a terrorist attack, we will work calmly and efficiently to bring the perpetrators to justice and to ensure that we can all return to our everyday activities with confidence. A range of government agencies and community organisations are prepared to assist the community in an effective recovery.
Governance and accountability
Countering terrorism is a responsibility shared by all Australian governments, the community and the private sector.
The dynamic nature of the terrorist threat, and the rapid growth of home-grown and lone actor elements, demands rigorous monitoring and assessment to ensure our arrangements remain properly targeted and implemented. To this end, Australia’s national counter‑terrorism coordinating body, the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC), meets regularly to monitor and assess the effectiveness of counter-terrorism arrangements. The ANZCTC reports to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) annually.
