Prime Minister John Howard unveiled a plan for "flying squads" of police to stop terrorist attacks in the region yesterday, stressing he would not hesitate to order a pre-emptive strike overseas if needed to protect Australia.
The idea was condemned as "clumsy foreign policy" by opposition leader Mark Latham, who said it would make Australia less safe, rather than more safe.
With security one of the top issues for the Oct. 9 election after this month's bombing of Australia's Jakarta embassy, Howard pledged nearly A$100 million (US$70 million) to the plan if re-elected.
"We will not wait for a terrorist threat to eventuate before we take action," he said in an official announcement.
"In close co-operation with our regional neighbors we will ensure that we take every measure possible to disrupt and destroy the terrorist networks at their source," Howard said.
The six new teams of officers from the Australian Federal Police would include two based outside Australia, he said.
Under the five-year plan, the teams would have state of the art equipment at their disposal, including mobile secure communications, portable surveillance equipment, facial identification technology and chemical trace equipment. Indonesia and the Philippines were named as "high priority" countries.
Earlier, in comments likely to worry Australia's neighbors, Howard said he would not hesitate to launch a pre-emptive strike on a terrorist base overseas if it was necessary, repeating a threat made two years ago after the Bali bombings killed 202 people including 88 Australians.
"I've said that if there were no alternative other than to do something ourselves to prevent an attack on Australia from a terrorist group, I would do it," Howard told national radio.
Asked yesterday about the chances of another terrorist attack, he said it was "a near inevitability" but that he did not think one would take place on the Australian mainland.
Latham said Howard's idea was counter-productive and said Australians would be outraged if the reverse happened and a neighboring country unilaterally planned pre-emptive strikes on Australian soil.
"Imagine if a country in our region said they were prepared to launch unilateral strikes on targets in Australia, our sovereign ter-ritory, without the cooperation and involvement of the Australian government," he said.
"Imagine the outrage in this country. As Australians we would feel absolutely appalled," he said.
Latham said the reaction among Australia's neighbors would likely be as bad as that two years ago. He unveiled his Labor Party's own A$373 million defense policy including a review, more troops in northern Australia and a host of benefits for soldiers.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said, however, the government plan would be welcomed in the region and he and Justice Minister Chris Ellison would visit Australia's neighbors to talk about it if re-elected.
Other measures would include the creation of two counter-terrorism criminal intelligence teams, which could be deployed in the region, and two counter-terrorism surveillance teams.
The federal police would also develop a unit of highly trained operational linguists to work on terrorism issues. Funding for a full-time bomb data centers in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore would be provided along with a region intelligence secretariat.
Howard also announced nearly A$50 million for a critical care and trauma response center in Darwin, prompted by the key role the city played after the Bali bombings.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS