Abbott urges military terror role

Tony Abbott wants to amend the Defence Act so specialist military units can lead domestic counter-terror operations.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott.

Former prime minister Tony ­Abbott is leading a push by government MPs to amend the Defence Act so that specialist military commando units can lead major domestic counter-terror operations, amid concerns about how local security forces have responded to potential terror incidents.

Mr Abbott, who had activated a commando regiment to be on standby during the December 2014 Lindt cafe siege in Sydney, has also urged more legal protection for a “shoot-to-kill” policy for terrorist incidents.

A growing number of government MPs is now pushing for amendments to provide an automatic trigger in the case of a complex or major terrorist incident for the military Tactical Assault Groups — drawn from the Second Commando Regiment — to be ­deployed to lead all tactical ­operations.

“In the case of multiple or complex terrorist incidents, as soon as that is established, the military should become the lead agency in terms of the operations,” Mr ­Abbott told The Australian.

“There is a difference between a multiple or complex terrorist incident and a relatively standard siege. In the case of a complex terrorist incident, they should be the lead agency, there is no doubt about that.”

He said too many officers in the senior echelons of state police ­forces had bowed to “political correctness” in concerning themselves with a potential sectional community backlash during live terrorist incidents when lives of the public were at stake.

He said terrorist attacks, in which people “have come to kill us”, should be dealt with as rapidly as possible and priority had to be given to lawful “shoot to kill”.

Chairman of the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee David Fawcett and Andrew Hastie, chairman of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security — both men with military backgrounds — have ­supported reforming the legal process based around a “call-out” from states territories. Deployment of the military in domestic situations is highly controversial, except in natural disasters.

The move, which has been under consideration since the Lindt siege, has been given greater impetus by yesterday’s London attack in which British security ­forces took eight minutes to respond and kill the three assailants.

Concerns about national security response times in Australia were raised last week after Victoria Police took 100 minutes to board a Malaysia Airlines plane following a bomb threat.

Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton later defended the handling of the incident, saying he did not see “any time gaps or delays that were problematic”.

Mr Ashton initially said it took about 20 minutes for Special Operations Group ­officers to arrive at the airport after Victoria Police took control. According to a police timeline released on Thursday, however, it took 44 minutes.

Mr Ashton said the delay boarding the jet was because­ police were investigating who was on board, the terrorism potential and the risk of other devices.

The two military Tactical Assault Group units (TAG East in Sydney and TAG West in Perth) have been seconded to security operations for major events such as the Sydney Olympics and an APEC summit, but they have never been used in response to a terrorist threat or active operation.

Senator Fawcett, a former RAAF test pilot, has gone a step further, calling for the military to be primary responder in a terrorist incident, which Mr Abbott suggested would be impractical because state police would always be ­expected to be first on the scene.

Senator Fawcett argues criteria for the deployment of Defence’s counter-terrorism TAGs must be reconsidered following the Lindt siege and the Westminster attack in London earlier this year.

“If a ‘high-risk incident’ dev­elops into a siege or hostage event, the force best equipped to deal with the threat must be deployed in a timely manner,” he said.

The Lindt cafe inquest by NSW Coroner Michael Barnes found the ADF’s role was “fairly limited”, though TAG East, at Holsworthy Barracks, had constructed a mock-up of the cafe and ADF officers sought to develop a “degree of situational awareness” in the event of the NSW government issuing a formal “call-out” for military ­assistance.

Mr Barnes noted the ADF had never received a “call-out” to a terrorist incident, but he observed that the necessary legal precon­ditions for the ADF to respond were not satisfied in the Lindt case. That was because the situation was never beyond the capabilities of NSW police.

Mr Barnes recommended the criteria for ADF “call-outs” be ­examined as part of a review of ­defence support for national ­counter-terrorism arrangements due later this year.

Senator Fawcett said state and federal governments must lower the threshold for allowing the military to legally intervene, arguing that a terrorist incident should automatically trigger an ADF ­response.

“The Defence Act currently requires a state or territory government to request assistance before the TAGs can be deployed,” Senator Fawcett said.

“This unnecessarily delays deployment of the most effective force to deal with the threat.

“We must ensure that our police and national security agencies have the necessary authority for the challenges they face in ­tactical response.

“This should involve changes to the thresholds for use of lethal force when responding to a terrorist incident.

“It should also involve amendments to the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Com­mittee protocols, National Counter-Terrorism Plan and the Defence Act,” Senator Fawcett said.

“These amendments should clarify that once a siege/hostage incident has been identified as being an act of terror, Defence’s TAGs will automatically assume responsibility for resolution.”

Mr Hastie, a former SAS commander-turned Liberal MP, told The Australian most terrorist incidents were over in about 10 to 15 minutes but hostage situations in which proscribed terror groups were threatening to execute civilians should automatically trigger military engagement.

“Their sole purpose is to kill the terrorist to save the lives of the hostages and so their whole operational culture is driven towards the surgical application of lethal force to that end,” Mr Hastie said.

Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman, an army major before entering politics, supported changes that simplified the process of bringing the ADF into terrorist incidents.

“What needs to happen though is that the Defence Act and the way it deals with a request for commonwealth assistance needs to be streamlined,” Mr Newman said.

“It is complex. My view is that in the modern era, (arrangements) are from the horse-and-buggy and steam engine days.”

Mr Newman argued strongly for the states to retain control over requesting ADF assistance, saying the commonwealth should not be able to intervene unilaterally.

Former defence minister Kevin Andrews also backed reform to allow the military to act in ­response to domestic terrorism.

“The reason for the existing ­arrangements is that the ADF do not normally have a civilian role,” Mr Andrews said.

“However, I believe that the resources of the ADF should be readily utilised in clear terrorist situations.”