At 12.30 this afternoon, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, lowered Australia’s terror threat level from ‘probable’ to ‘possible’. In doing so, he acknowledged that the terrorism threat in Australia is both enduring and evolving. This is a significant moment for Australia’s security as we have been living and working under the ‘probable’ threat level for more than eight years.
Despite the best efforts of our intelligence and law enforcement agencies, Australia has experienced 11 terrorist attacks on home soil. Lives have been lost and the lives of survivors have been irrevocably damaged. Over the past eight years, our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have achieved great counterterrorism successes: 21 significant plots were detected and disrupted. All the while, Australians did their bit by providing information when they could and getting on with living and working.
