Shoot-to-kill: Police get new powers to combat ‘cowardly, evil acts’

BREAKING: NSW Police will be granted new ‘shoot-to-kill’ powers against terrorists to combat ‘cowardly, evil acts’ within weeks.

NSW Police will be given ‘shoot-to-kill’ powers against terrorists.

NEW South Wales Police will be granted new ‘shoot-to-kill’ powers against terrorists to combat ‘cowardly, evil acts’.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian today announced the government “accepted and supported” all 45 recommendations made by Coroner Michael Barnes in late May following the inquest into the Lindt Cafe siege of December 2014.

One of the recommendations was that the government consider legislative changes to ensure that police have the necessary protections to resolve terrorist incidents in a manner most likely to minimise risk to the public.

Ms Berejiklian said the legislation will be introduced within a fortnight to provide certainty to police officers who need to use lethal force against terrorists.

She said it was crucial police had clear powers if required to use force to keep the community safe from terrorism.

“As we have seen as recently as this week in Melbourne, and on the weekend with the cowardly, evil acts in London, we need to be ever-vigilant to the emerging and evolving risks of terrorism,” Ms Berejiklian said in a statement.

“NSW will continue to have the toughest counter-terror laws in the country and we will now give our police clear protections if they need to use lethal force against terrorists.”

Hostages Marcia Mikhael and Katrina Dawson were forced by Lindt Cafe siege gunman to hold an IS flag to the window during the 2014 ordeal.

Cafe manager Tori Johnson and Sydney barrister Katrina Dawson were killed as the Martin Place stand-off came to an horrific end in the early hours of December 16 2014.

Gunman Man Haron Monis was shot by specialist police who stormed the stronghold 17 hours after he walked into the building with a shotgun.

Mr Barnes found snipers had a 10-minute window during which they could have taken a “kill shot” at terrorist Monis but they doubted their legal power to use lethal force as well as having concerns a visible head belonged to the gunman. The coroner recommended the police minister consider whether police power laws should be amended to ensure officers “have sufficient legal protection to respond to terrorist incidents”.

Katrina Dawson, 38, was one of two hostages killed in a dramatic 16-hour siege at the Lindt cafe in Sydney, Australia.

Tori Johnson was murdered by gunman Man Monis during the Lindt Cafe siege. Picture. Supplied.

Further new legislation will also be introduced in coming weeks to tighten provisions around parole by requiring consideration of links to terrorism.

It comes after a Melbourne terror attack that left three police wounded and a gunman and hotel clerk dead on Monday night.

Gunman Yacqub Khayre shot and killed Chinese-born Kai “Nick” Hao, held an escort hostage and injured three officers before dying in a hail of bullets in suburban Brighton on Monday night.

Victoria Police is treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

Khayre once spent 16 months on remand before being acquitted of a 2009 terror plot to attack the Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney.

He was later jailed in 2012 over a violent home invasion and released in December.

The incident followed a terror attack in London that left eight people dead, including two Australians, and many more injured after three men in a van drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and then went on a frenzied stabbing rampage in nearby Borough Market just after 10pm on Saturday, local time.

South Australian woman Kirsty Boden was murdered in the London terror attacks.

Sara Zelenak, from Brisbane, was one of two Australians murdered in the London terror attacks.

The deaths of the two young women have left their families heartbroken.

South Australian nurse Kirsty Boden, 28, was on London Bridge when she was set upon by terrorists who carried out the attack and died.

Sara Zelenak, a 21-year-old nanny from Brisbane, was leaving the bar London Grind, near the bridge, with her friend Pri Gonçalves when they heard the van crash and saw people running from the carnage. She was later confirmed dead.

Originally published as Shoot-to-kill: Police get new powers to combat ‘cowardly, evil acts’