The country’s leading spy boss wants to reassure Sydney’s Muslim community the new terrorism powers he is seeking are not aimed at them.
ASIO Director-General David Irvine said last night it was not Muslims he was after, but terrorists, and warned the threats against Australia would remain for years ahead.
In a speech in Sydney to the Australian institute of International Affairs, following the publication of more graphic images of the brutal activities of Australian jihadists in Iraq, Mr Irvine urged the Muslim community to work with ASIO to track potential terrorists.
“Australia’s counterterrorism arrangements are not directed at Muslim Australians, they are directed at terrorism,” he said.
“Our efforts are designed to protect Muslim Australians and non-Muslim Australians.
“The terrorist phenomenon will be with us for some time.
“We will continue to do this, not only using special powers but, more importantly, working with the community of Muslim Australians, whom it is our duty to protect in exactly the same way as we seek to protect all Australians.
“Violent Islamist extremism maintains a very small level of support among the fringe of the fringe of the Muslim community here in Australia.
“Those involved here tend to operate outside of the mainstream Muslim orthodoxy in a smattering of locations across Australia. In no way are they representative of the overwhelming majority of Australian Muslims, who consider their activities abhorrent.”
As revealed first by The Daily Telegraph, a bill to give modernise ASIO’s surveillance powers was introduced in July.
It will be voted on when federal parliament returns.
A second tranche of counter-terrorism laws will also be introduced which will give Australian authorities expanded powers of arrest and make it a crime to travel to terror zones like Iraq or Syria without a valid reason.