A siege in central Sydney signals a greater risk of terror attacks, terrorism analyst Clark Jones says.
An armed man has been holding hostage an unknown number of people inside the Lindt café in Sydney’s CBD since just before 10am.
In an interview with SBS, Mr Jones said this was a sign that Australia now faced greater risk of terror.
“It’s certainly shown that there is a potential for attacks; there’s one happening now,” he said.
Today’s siege has not been officially described an act of terror by police or government officials.
Monash University’s Greg Barton said Australia had experienced a low risk in the past.
“There have been things like Madrid and London of course…but we've dodged bullets many, many times,” he said.
“Lots of hard work, lots of intelligence, lots of co-operation from Muslim communities; it's been our first line of defence.
But he said the emergence of the so-called Islamic state phenomenon had “begun to change that.”
In September, a large-scale terror operation involving raids on numerous properties was carried out in Brisbane and Sydney.
In the same month, Melbourne police shot dead 18-year old Abdul Numan Haider on fears he planned to behead officers.
The September raids saw police smash an IS plot to behead a member of the public in central Sydney.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said monitoring since then had been adequate, both regarding location and the risk of lone-wolf attack.
“If you were to look at the number of police we had in the city, the numbers of officers on standby, and the rapidness of their response, I would suggest that it's as good as you will get anywhere,” he said of today's events.
But Mr Jones said there was always risk.
“I have no doubt that police would have been monitoring Martin Place but that doesn’t stop the act of someone planning it that hasn’t come to police’s attention before,” he said.
“I would not be surprised if there’s more attacks while the conflict in Syria and Iraq is ongoing.”
Share
