July 17, 2024
Former home affairs minister Karen Andrews says it is "only a matter of time" until an assassination attempt on an Australian politician is made, and backed a review of protective security arrangements as called for by Mike Pezzullo.
Speaking after the attempt on Donald Trump's life, Ms Andrews told The Australian she stood by her initial warning after the killing of former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe in July 2022 that a similar event would happen in Australia.
Serving as home affairs minister from March 2021 until May 2022, Ms Andrews told The Australian it was "only a matter of time". "I had concerns at the time of the assassination of Shinzo Abe about what the level of security was. I had some concerns about it when I was the minister," she said.
"Parliamentarians are very visible and alarm bells are ringing.
"Due to the sheer number of threats MPs get on a regular basis, which does happen often, I've previously raised the importance of ensuring adequate AFP detail and protection including with the Australian Federal Police."
Ms Andrews said protective security should be "constantly reviewed", and the current levels of support provided to MPs could be described as only "adequate".
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said it was important to ensure the AFP was "adequately resourced" and had the "necessary powers to protect our institutions".
"The last thing we want is to wake up the morning after a terrible event and wished we had done more," he said.
Mr Pezzullo, the former Home Affairs secretary, told The Australian he was calling for a comprehensive review into protective security arrangements.
He said judge Robert Hope had conducted the last one back in 1979 following the Hilton bombing the year before and it was important to examine the rising risk of political violence, including the risk of assassination, in a more modern context.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Pezzullo said the nation was well served by the AFP and ASIO but it was time to "take a step back" and examine how to ensure the "protection of democracy". "The parliament, government building, judges and courts et cetera ... It's time for a top down (look)," he said.
"What I'm talking about, as you do, say, with a Defence white paper, is to look into the future the threat of drones at open air rallies for instance, new attack methodologies." "Is it possible, for instance, that going back to that era of the 70s and 80s, that terrorist groups will start to get the sorts of weapons that they used, say, for instance, to try and assassinate Margaret Thatcher in 1984 at the Brighton hotel? Massive amounts of explosives were used."
Mr Pezzullo also noted that Anthony Albanese was about to receive a report on where there was scope for improvement within the national intelligence community. The report, led by Heather Smith and Richard Maude, was commissioned in September 2023.
Mr Pezzullo questioned whether the nation was "future casting" in terms of its protective security arrangements "in the way that we do in defence and intelligence?"
On Monday, Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil released the "Strengthening Australian Democracy" report, which warned that democracy was facing a series of new challenges ranging from declining public trust, greater foreign interference and lower levels of social cohesion.
'The last thing we want is to wake up the morning after a terrible event and wished we had done more' James Paterson Opposition home affairs spokesman
