Experts: Australians more at risk of being hit by a car than witnessing terrorist attack on home soil

AUSTRALIA’S head of security has revealed a serious concern over the threat of a terror attack on home soil.

The outgoing director-general of ASIO David Irvine told ABC’s 7.30 the threat of an attack has been building over the last year, and that he has an “elevated level of concern”.

“In Australia, we’ve been very lucky in that we have avoided an attack on Australian soil … but we’ve also had to stop terrorist attacks occurring in Australia.

“We are certainly aware of people wanting to conduct terror attacks in the west and in Australia. We are facing a persistent threat.”

Mr Irvine, who steps down on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, told host Leigh Sales that while Australian authorities had thwarted previous attempts to attack the land Down Under, Australia continues to be on the hit list of major terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda and ISIL.

“The current propaganda and talk is of continuing to conduct terrorist attacks in the west, including Australia,” he said.

WHAT ARE THE LIKELY TARGETS?

The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge are under threat of a terrorist attack, but they’re not the only Australian landmarks at risk.

According to terrorism experts, a tendency towards “doomsday, apocalyptic strategies” and a need to affect large numbers of casualties in symbolic places means the iconic coathanger and its neighbour, the Sydney Opera House, are prime targets for an attack on home soil.

“It’s harder and harder to get media attention these days, so terrorist attacks are intended to be shocking,” said Dr David Malet, a senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Melbourne and the author of Foreign Fighters.

“Unless somebody was trying to attack ASIO, they’d be looking to get international attention and that would be something iconic.

Justin Hastings, a terrorism expert from the University of Sydney, told news.com.au the iconic Australian pair are a terrorist’s dream because “you can get a two-for-one in Sydney in terms of landmarks by setting it off in Circular Quay.”

To make matters more terrifying, Al-Qaeda’s official magazine has used the Sydney Opera House as an example of a suitable target for a homegrown terrorist attack.

The photo was included in a 2011 issue of Inspire, an online magazine published by associates of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The picture illustrates a section that aims to educate English-speaking terrorists on bomb-making and use of the AK-47 automatic rifles.

Sydney’s public transport system is also at risk, echoing the devastating 2004 Madrid train bombings and the 2005 suicide attacks in London.

“If I wanted to rock the Australian way of life I’d bomb a train,” said Mr Hastings.

“If something goes wrong in Central everything shuts down.”

While government buildings were not out of danger, Mr Hastings said they’re a harder target to hit.

“Government buildings are a lot harder to do anything to, they’re generally well defended.

ARE WE REALLY AT RISK?

Australia’s terrorist threat has never been higher, but it’s also never been lower.

According to Clive Williams, lecturer on terrorism studies at Macquarie University, you’ve got more chance of being knocked down by a car then being exposed to a terrorist attack.

Mr Williams believes it’s highly unlikely for extremist group ISIL to target Australia in an attack, telling news.com.au a terror attack on home soil is “possible”, but certainly not imminent.

Other experts agree, believing that while the threat of an attack is “marginal”, it’s certainly possible.

“There’s a marginal threat, you can’t say its definitely not going to happen but I haven’t seen an indication that would lead to a noticeably greater risk of a terrorist attack than before, said Dr Hastings.

According to Dr Malet, the more terrorists travelling overseas, the less likely of an attack on home soil.

“Ironically enough, the number of these people going to Iraq and Syria probably decreases the risk of a terror attack in the short term, because they’re going overseas instead of engaging here.

“Potentially a number of them are becoming suicide bombers and they’re being killed.”

“We don’t know how (much) greater the risk is today, we do know that terrorism has changed, there’s been a trend in high casualty suicide attacks.”

AUSTRALIA’S THREAT LEVEL REMAINS UNCHANGED IN 11 YEARS

Australia’s terrorist alert has remain unchanged since our National Terrorism Public Alert System came into force in 2003, driven by the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“We’ve never been beyond ‘medium’ since the system came into being,” Mr Williams confirmed.