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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS