Premier Peter Malinauskas and Police Commissioner Grant Stevens discuss increased terror risks

Premier Peter Malinauskas has spoken out about the increased terror risk and what it means for South Australians.

Premier Peter Malinauskas says South Australians should be “alive to the risk” but not alarmed at the escalation of the national terror threat.

Mr Malinauskas spoke out about the increased threat following a briefing by SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens on Thursday afternoon.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has told SA should be ‘alive to the risk’ at the escalation of a national terror threat.. Picture: Keryn Stevens

It came after the Federal Government announced on Monday that ASIO had raised Australia’s terror threat level from ‘possible’ to ‘probable’ for the first time in a decade because of deteriorating social cohesion.

“The raising of the terror threat level is significant but it is also important to remember that it was only in 2022 that we went from ‘probable’ to ‘possible’ and now we’re going back up to probable again,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“In that context it’s important that South Australians are aware that the activities of South Australian Police, particularly when it comes to monitoring of threats and preparedness, has largely been maintained despite the de-escalation that occurred two years ago.”

Mr Malinauskas confirmed there “hasn’t been any South Australian-specific intelligence that has informed that terror threat level is increasing nationwide”.

“That doesn’t mean we can be complacent but it does mean that South Australians can take a degree of comfort that some of the challenges that we see elsewhere in the country haven’t yet presented themselves in the most acute of ways right here in our state.

“But we should be alive to the risk that that could yet occur.”

Police Commissioner Grant Stevens briefed the state government on Thursday about the increased terror threat level. Picture: Dean Martin

Mr Stevens said SA Police were taking the increased threat level seriously.

“It will increase our vigilance in relation to our efforts to identify circumstances that might put the South Australian community at risk or individuals who have shown evidence of radicalisation and we’ll do our best to intervene at the earliest opportunity to prevent those people from causing harm,” he said.

“That’s part of our established protocols and one that will continue to operate.

“The other thing we’ll be putting extra effort into is making sure we maintain the level of engagement with affected communities so that we have good information flows between police and those communities and we have the opportunity to intervene early if we do become aware of any circumstances that may potentially pose a risk to the South Australian community.”

Mr Stevens also said police would also continue to engage with major event organisers and mass gathering venues to share information and make safety assessments.

“The notification of a rise in the national terrorism threat level is a reminder to us all that we should be aware of our surroundings, aware of the people we’re engaging with, if we have any concerns about our safety or the behaviour of individuals then people should be contacting the national terrorism hotline,” he said.