Australia's terrorism threat level raised for the first time in a decade

Australia's national terrorism threat level has been raised from possible to probable on the advice of ASIO.

Transcript

00:00AGO has decided to return Australia's national terrorism threat level from possible to probable.

00:09My Government's first priority is the safety and security of Australians and this morning

00:14I convened a National Security Committee meeting to hear from the Director-General and also

00:21then we have just completed a Cabinet meeting.

00:24I want to reassure Australians, probable does not mean inevitable and it does not mean there

00:31is intelligence about an imminent threat or danger.

00:35But the advice that we have received is that more Australians are embracing a more diverse

00:40range of extreme ideologies and it is our responsibility to be vigilant.

00:48To be clear, this is the same threat level that was in place in Australia for more than

00:55eight years before it was lowered in November of 2022.

01:00At that time we said as a Government this does not mean that the threat from terrorism

01:05is extinguished.

01:08Since then we have seen a global rise in politically motivated violence and extremism.

01:15Many democracies are working to address this including our friends in the United States

01:20and in the United Kingdom.

01:22There are many things driving this global trend towards violence.

01:27Governments around the world are concerned about youth radicalisation, online radicalisation

01:33and the rise of new mixed ideologies.

01:37My Government respects our intelligence agencies, we listen to their advice and we act on their

01:43advice and that is what we are doing today.