00:01The key questions following the terror attack.
00:05Who knew what when and what might have been done to prevent it?
00:08I have said on multiple occasions governments could always do better.
00:12The report spells out that there were warnings, finding
00:15ASIO publicly and repeatedly drew attention to the heightened risk of a terrorist attack.
00:22The inquiry can't yet say whether those warnings were heeded.
00:26It will be necessary to investigate whether and how ASIO
00:30and law enforcement agencies understood and acted on those assessments.
00:35The report found funding for intelligence agencies rose 31% to $14.3 billion in 2024-25.
00:44But the proportion of funding for counter-terrorism within agencies significantly declined.
00:50There are significant concerns we have around the counter-terror efforts
00:55under this government.
00:56At the start of the decade, foreign interference had become the priority within ASIO.
01:02But in the year following the Hamas terror attacks of October 2023,
01:06the terror threat level here was lifted from possible to probable.
01:10I think that is very much going to be drawn out in the questioning and the hearings to come
01:16to see whether that was an appropriate level of resourcing and activity.
01:21Much of the report's findings on the inner workings of intelligence agencies is classified,
01:26and the agencies will give evidence once hearings actually begin.
01:30But the report points to one step that can be taken now,
01:33urging states and territories to sign up to a national gun buyback.
01:37A number of states have refused to sign up.
01:40I again would reiterate a constructive call for states and territories to work with the Commonwealth.
01:50Queensland today made clear it won't be doing so.
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