(Bloomberg) -- Australia has raised the nation’s terrorism threat level for the first time since 2014 as fears grow inside the intelligence community about online radicalization and community unrest over the Israel-Hamas war.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday that the likelihood of an attack on Australian soil was now “probable” instead of “possible,” while cautioning that the change didn’t mean an event was imminent or inevitable.
“More Australians are embracing a more diverse range of extreme ideologies, and it is our responsibility to be vigilant,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra. “Governments around the world are concerned about youth radicalization, online radicalization and the rise of new mixed ideologies.”
The government lowered the terrorism threat level in November 2022, saying the threat from religious extremism had reduced. Albanese said Monday there had since been a global rise in politically motivated violence.
Speaking alongside the prime minister, Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, said there was evidence of Australians being radicalized more quickly. Some were considering violence as a “legitimate way to effect political or societal change,” he said.
Burgess said there was no single cause of the increased terror threat, pointing to the deteriorating online environment while warning that any escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could stir even greater societal unrest in Australia.
Australia has experienced a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, Burgess said, with the government working to balance the frustrations of both Jewish and Muslim residents.
“ASIO anticipates an increase in politically motivated violence, including terrorism across all ideological spectrums,” Burgess said. “Attacks are likely to occur with little or no warning and will be difficult to detect.”
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