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NSW to get new shoot-to-kill laws to combat terrorism: premier

NSW is acting on a coroner's recommendation that police laws be amended to ensure officers 'have sufficient legal protection to respond to terrorist incidents'.

File image of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian during question time at NSW Parliament
File image of NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian during question time at NSW Parliament Source: AAP

The NSW government will introduce legislation within a fortnight to provide certainty to police officers who need to use lethal force against terrorists, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced.

The premier on Thursday said the government "accepted and supported" all 45 recommendations made by Coroner Michael Barnes in late May following the inquest into the Lindt Cafe siege of December 2014.

"As we have seen as recently as this week in Melbourne, and on the weekend with the cowardly, evil acts in London, we need to be ever-vigilant to the emerging and evolving risks of terrorism," Ms Berejiklian said in a statement.

Cafe manager Tori Johnson and Sydney barrister Katrina Dawson were killed as the Martin Place stand-off came to an horrific end in the early hours of December 16 2014.

Gunman Man Haron Monis was shot by specialist police who stormed the stronghold 17 hours after he walked into the building with a shotgun.

Mr Barnes found snipers had a 10-minute window during which they could have taken a "kill shot" at terrorist Monis but they doubted their legal power to use lethal force as well as having concerns a visible head belonged to the gunman.

The coroner recommended the police minister consider whether police power laws should be amended to ensure officers "have sufficient legal protection to respond to terrorist incidents".


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Source: AAP



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