Victoria’s left-wing Labor premier has declared Australia’s political leaders should stop debating civil liberties following a series of foiled Islamic terror plots in Melbourne.
Daniel Andrews made the call, after a National Security Summit in Canberra last week agreed to give national intelligence agencies the power to access driver’s licences.
The premier, who hails from Victoria’s Socialist Left faction, said civil liberties were a boutique issue following a series of foiled terror plots and a June terrorist attack in Melbourne.
Victoria’s left-faction Labor Premier Daniel Andrews says debating civil liberties is a ‘luxury’
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews signs a new national security agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
‘There is not the luxury of effective political leaders to have an esoteric debate,’ he told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
‘That debate may be important but it is not something we, as leaders of this country can use as an excuse not to act.’
Mr Andrews singled out the terrorist attack in bayside Brighton in June and a 2015 plot to behead a police officer on Anzac Day as reasons why police needed more resources.
‘Each of those plots and the ultimate tragedy of Brighton, they chip away too,’ he said.
Somali-born gunman Yacqub Khayre shot dead a reception at a Melbourne serviced apartment
Teenager Sevdet Besim has been sentenced to 10 years’ jail for plot to behead a police officer
‘They chip away at our safety, our sense of security and when you are confronted with clear evidence we have a probable threat level, a probable threat level.’
Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, state premiers and territory chief ministers unanimously agreed to give the Australian Federal Police and national intelligence agencies more power to access drivers’ licence photographs to help them prevent terrorist attacks.
This was part of the Council of Australian Government’s first National Security Summit at Parliament House in Canberra where new security fences are being installed.
Dimitrious ‘Jimmy’ Gargasoulas has been charged with six counts of murder in Melbourne
Gargasoulas, 26, allegedly drove his neighbour’s Holden Commodore into Bourke St crowds
Victoria’s Daniel Andrews says political leaders don’t have luxury of civil liberties debate
Mr Andrews has made the strongest call to crack down on civil liberties following the June terrorist attack at Brighton, in bayside Melbourne, where 29-year-old Somali-born gunman Yacqub Khayre shot dead a reception at a serviced apartment during a siege.
In September last year, Sevdet Besim, 19, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for planning to behead a police officer on Anzac Day in 2015, after declaring allegiance to Islamic State.
Meanwhile, Dimitrious ‘Jimmy’ Gargasoulas, 26, has been charged with six counts of murder for allegedly driving his neighbour’s 1990s Holden Commodore into crowds in Melbourne’s busy Bourke Street Mall.
Three-month-old Zachary Bryant was among those killed.