Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cannot guarantee there won't be a terrorist attack on Australian soil, but has promised to redouble efforts to mitigate the risk.
Delivering his first national security statement to parliament on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull said the threat from Islamic State was a global problem and must be addressed at its source in the Middle East.
But IS, intent on creating a division between Muslims and non-Muslims, was in a fundamentally weak position. It had more smartphones than guns, more Twitter accounts than soldiers, he said.
"We must not be fooled by its hype."
The Australia government had no plans to significantly change its involvement in the fight against IS, based on advice that the unilateral deployment of combat troops on the ground in Syria or Iraq was "neither feasible nor practical".
"Calm, clinical, professional, effective. That's how we defeat this menace," Mr Turnbull said. Australia was working more closely than ever with its neighbours in South-East Asia as the threat to the region increased.
The prime minister said Australia could not counter violent extremism alone - especially online. He has asked the country's intelligence agencies to partner with their international counterparts to help address the challenge of monitoring terrorists in the new environment.
Mr Turnbull has also asked police and emergency services to test their responses to a mass casualty attack.
That work was in addition to five tranches of new legislation to give law-enforcement agencies the tools to keep Australians safe.
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"I want Australians to be aware that a terrorist incident on our soil remains likely but also that Australians should be reassured our security agencies are working diligently and expertly to prevent that happening," he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said like Mr Turnbull, he did not support unilaterally sending ground combat units into Syria.
He cautioned the swamp of terrorism would not be drained by military means alone.
"We will not bomb our way to victory," he told parliament, warning the presence of western troops would only feed the IS propaganda.
Mr Shorten said a solution in war-ravaged Syria could not involve Bashar Al-Assad remaining in power because it could provide a rallying call for extremists and continue to spur armed resistance
