Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he supported Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)’s decision to lower the national terror threat level from “probable” to “possible”, ABC news reported.
“I have absolute confidence in our security agencies … I won’t second-guess them and I won’t comment on their behalf,” Mr Albanese said.
The Coalition has welcomed the development and is taking some credit for ASIO’s decision to lower Australia’s national terrorism alert level from “probable” to “possible”.
Meanwhile, Liberal senator and deputy chair of parliament’s Intelligence Committee, James Paterson, said ASIO had acknowledged the previous government’s work helped reduce the terror threat.
“This is a result of the investments and the powers that the parliament has previously given ASIO, most of which happened over the last nine years under our government but also under prior governments as well,” he told the ABC.
“ASIO has the tools and the powers and the resources they need to tackle this threat and there’s also some wider structural changes with the fall of ISIL (Islamic State) and other issues.”
In 2014, the Abbott government announced that Australia’s terrorism threat level would be raised to “probable” following the rapid emergence of the violent extremist Islamic State group in the Middle East.
ASIO said there have been 11 terrorist attacks on Australian soil since 2014 and 21 significant terror plots “detected and disrupted”.
