AUSTRALIA | Gov’t targets returning foreign fighters with new ‘terror law’

Tony Abbott

Australia, after conducting its largest ever anti-terrorism operation last week, plans to introduce a law to empower authorities to charge returning foreign fighters and those urging citizens to engage in terrorism.
The legislation called the Foreign Fighters Bill will probably be introduced in the Australian Senate Sept. 24, and will be used “sparingly,” Attorney-General George Brandis told Sky News television in an interview yesterday. “We need to have every tool in the legal armory that is available to us,” he said, adding that current laws aren’t applicable to persons returning from “fighting in Syria or northern Iraq.”
Australia raised its terror alert for the first time in a decade this month and the government says at least 60 of its citizens are fighting alongside militant groups in Syria and Iraq, and 100 more are funding or facilitating them. Last week police thwarted an alleged Islamic State plot to abduct and behead a member of the public as officers detained 15 people.
Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, or ASIO, have been briefed about the proposals and are “satisfied” with the contents of bill, Brandis said. The bill isn’t directed at any particular community and, when passed, will allow the foreign minister to declare localities or places as “no go zones” for citizens, the attorney general said.
Raising the terror alert to the second-highest level means the country believed a terror attack is likely, and there will be increased security screenings at airports, ports, government buildings and public gatherings such as major sporting events. It follows a similar move by the U.K. last month. The Australian government last month committed an additional A$630 million (USD565 million) over four years to counter-terrorism measures.
Intelligence agencies detected chatter this month between Australians fighting in Iraq and Syria and their supporters at home that federal parliament in Canberra could be targeted, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sept. 19.
Abbott said Sept. 14 Australia will deploy 400 air force personnel and 200 special forces soldiers to a U.S. military base in the United Arab Emirates along with fighter jets, as a coalition formed by President Barack Obama prepares to step up the fight against the Islamic State. Narayanan Somasundaram, Bloomberg