Editorial: Getting ahead of the terror threat

A MAJOR terrorist attack in Australia is “probable”, according to the national security alert level.

It is clear that opportunities were lost for authorities to intervene and attempt to divert Yacqub Khayre from extremism.

A MAJOR terrorist attack in Australia is “probable”, according to the national security alert level.

NSW Police counter-terrorism chief Mark Murdoch on Wednesday said such an atrocity was “inevitable”.

With Sydney or Melbourne considered the most likely targets, new measures to stop violent jihadism are at the forefront of government and police thinking. Homegrown radicals or militants returning from overseas conflict are a major concern in the ongoing war on terror. But unlike any conventional conflict, this is an asymmetric threat where fighting ideas — extremist Islam and violent jihad — must form the basis for community protection.

A tough new regime of intervention orders to compel suspects to undertake deradicalisation programs is being strongly considered by the state government. It is being investigated as part of a major review following the Brighton terror attack carried out by Yacqub Khayre in June in which he shot dead receptionist Nick Hao and wounded three police, before being killed by members of the Special Operations Group.

The Herald Sun reveals today that the government will accept several initial recommendations, including clearer shoot-to-kill powers for police during terror incidents.

Preventive detention orders will be expanded and parole and bail laws changed to ensure the extremist views of offenders are taken into account when decisions are made.

Former Victoria Police chief commissioner Ken Lay.

A decision has not been made on whether to support the intervention order scheme, similar to that used in family violence cases.

But it gained strong support in the wake of the Brighton attack, when it was suggested that recommendations for Khayre to undergo a deradicalisation program had been ignored. Police believe Khayre, who had a history of drugs, weapons and violence, became radicalised and underwent training in Somalia after meeting fellow refugee Saney Aweys in 2008. Aweys and two others were sentenced to 18 years’ jail for a 2009 plot to storm Sydney’s Holsworthy Barracks and kill soldiers in a suicide mission.

Khayre was acquitted of related charges and, while the Brighton terror attack is subject to coronial investigation, it is clear opportunities were lost to intervene and attempt to divert Khayre from extremism.

Tackling the bent motivations behind individuals willing to engage in terrorism is a complex task.

Intervention programs are one tool for authorities faced with suspects who have been radicalised through exposure to domestic extremists or brainwashed by foreign propaganda.

The Islamic community is key to identifying threats and combating violent teachings, and respected Islamic leaders, family members have a key role to play.

Questions have, however, been raised about the funding, availability and effectiveness of deradicalisation programs in Australia.

Last year a 16-year-old Sydney youth was charged with plotting terrorism despite months earlier being subjected to a deradicalisation program. International lessons also need to be learned, with hit-and-miss examples in Europe.

But best-practice results to formulate the most effective programs is essential. When the Council of Australian Governments meets next month to discuss counter-terror reform, a national approach to compelling suspects to participate in effective deradicalisation is needed.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy wants to roll out free flu vaccinations for all children between six months and five years under the National Immunisation Program. Picture: AAP

PROTECT KIDS FROM FLU

THE selfless words of grieving father Christian Brealey cannot be ignored.

After losing his eight-year-old daughter, Rosie, to a lethal flu infection, Mr Brealey summoned the courage and goodwill to think of others in calling for greater vaccination rates for kids.

“We urge everyone to get their kids immunised against the flu,” he said following Rosie’s death at the Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully on Friday, just days after the vivacious youngster fell ill.

In the midst of a horror flu season that has claimed some 94 deaths in Victorian aged care residences, and younger victims including Rosie and 30-year-old father Ben Ihlow a fortnight ago, an increased response is demanded. Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy wants to roll out free flu vaccinations for all children between six months and five years under the National Immunisation Program.

More than 13,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza have been reported to Victoria’s Health Department this year compared with 7365 at the same stage last year, and at least 534 people have been hospitalised. As a result, healthcare workers at the coal face have also been hit hard and Ms Hennessy is looking to increase vaccination rates from a target of 75 per cent to 90 within five years. Immunisation will also be offered to healthcare workers over the entire flu season, rather than in the current two-week window.

Infection is blind to borders and the Turnbull Government needs to back a national immunisation program that covers young children who, together with the elderly, are most at risk.