Full interview available at CBS News: Australian leader says Bondi Beach suspects "motivated by Islamic State ideology," as their histories emerge - CBS News
**Check against delivery**
"This type of terrorism has been, the elements of that, have been present in Australia for a long time, and our agencies spend a lot of time keeping an eye on them, but it's hard to track every single person...
Certainly, it's a very big question: Why does somebody living in the suburbs of Sydney need six long arms, as he [Sajid Akram] had, even though they were licensed? Second question is, why were they licensed to a man who had a son who had been on an ASIO [Australian Security Intelligence Organization] watchlist because of links to ISIS-related entities? … And that trip to the Philippines raises another question: Why were they there? And so, you know, this gets back to the problem that I think we face all around the world, is databases talking to each other. Are we actually putting all the dots together in time?
There are holes in everybody's intelligence gathering.
But as you know, the terrorist only has to be right once. The security agencies have to be right every time...
I've been Prime Minister... I'm on the opposite side of politics, so I'm not trying to be partisan about this, but I struggle to see what he could have done that was different. I mean there have been people saying he shouldn't have allowed pro-Palestine marches. Well, you know, we do have freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Australia. I mean we have restrictions in Australia on hate speech, and on guns, in particular.
When I ask people, they will say he should have condemned antisemitism more often. Well, I've never heard him do anything other than condemn it, but my question really is to say, what difference would that have made? To those terrorists they're not going to listen to a lecture on the evils of antisemitism from you or me or Anthony Albanese.
Remember, terrorism is a political act. So, you've got to try to interrupt people being radicalized, particularly young men, it's the most vulnerable group, and that involves monitoring what is being said online, what they're being taught, you know, in schools or in mosques or in other places. And the intelligence agencies are doing that all the time".
Sorry comments are closed.