PRIME MINISTER

23 December 2014

TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER

THE HON. TONY ABBOTT MP
PRESS CONFERENCE,
SYDNEY
Subjects: Intelligence reports regarding national security
E&OE.
PRIME MINISTER:
Ive just come from the memorial service for Katrina Dawson a brilliant and beautiful woman from a
wonderful and accomplished family who has been cruelly snatched away from us.
She will live on in the hearts of all who knew her and the service symbolised the healing power of love.
As this service and the Tori Johnson service earlier today showed, Australians should be proud of the way
we have come together in support of the victims and the families of those involved in last weeks Martin
Place siege.
We have come together in defiance of extremism and terrorism. We have yet again demonstrated our
characteristic compassion and decency in the face of violence and fear.
As we prepare to join family and friends to celebrate Christmas, we do need to be conscious of the fact that
the terror threat remains high. There are people who would do us harm and who can do us harm.
I do want to reassure you though that our law enforcement agencies and our police forces and our security
agencies will be working around the clock to keep you as safe as possible over the holiday season, as they
do at all times.
This afternoon the National Security Committee of the Cabinet met for the first time following the swearingin of new Ministers. It was important to me that they were fully briefed on the domestic and international
security situation as quickly as possible.
The NSC was briefed by the head of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation and by the
Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police.

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Our police forces and our security and intelligence organisations are doing everything they possibly can to
monitor and disrupt all the threats to our security.
But I do want to say to you to all members of the public that if you see anything untoward please do
report it to the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400.
Christmas is above all a time of hope and one of the best ways that we can respond to the security challenge
is to celebrate the festive season as normal and to look forward with confidence to the New Year.
This is a magnificent country and we are all blessed to be Australians.
Ill just take a few questions.
QUESTION:
Has anything new come to light thats prompted this caution?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes the briefing from the security agencies today indicated that there has been a heightened level of
terrorist chatter in the aftermath of the Martin Place siege. Thats why its important that people remain alert
and aware as well as reassured that our police and security agencies are doing everything they humanly can
to keep us safe.
QUESTION:
Are there any particular areas that you think are danger zones?
PRIME MINISTER:
No Australians should go about their lives as normal because what terrorists are trying to do is to scare us
out of being ourselves. I just want to assure people that now and always while the terror threat is heightened
that our police and security agencies will be very active and very visible.
QUESTION:
So, youre calling for more vigilance but theres no particular target that you want to alert people to?
PRIME MINISTER:
Im alerting people to the fact that the terror threat remains high and as youll all understand, at this level an
attack is likely. We dont know when and how an attack may come, but we do know that there are people
with the intent and the capability to carry out further attacks. And thats why its important that as well as
being reassured, that people are aware of the reality of these times.
QUESTION:
So, could I ask did the Martin Place incident in a way provoke this further attention, you know, the activity
that youre seeing now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Im not going to speculate. Im just going to tell you what the police and the security agencies are telling us
and that is that in the wake of the Martin Place brush with terrorism, that there has been a heightened level
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of chatter amongst people who we would normally think of as terrorist sympathisers. And thats why its
important that I keep the public as informed as I can, thats why I thought it was important to have a meeting
of the National Security Committee of the Cabinet with the new Ministers for Defence and for Immigration
and Border Security who were sworn in today.
Ill take one more question.
QUESTION:
I was just going to ask whether you could elaborate on that. But with the gunman himself, is there any more
news on, you know, you raised concerns about him slipping through the security net. Have you heard any
more about how that happened or has anything come to light?
PRIME MINISTER:
I can tell you that in the aftermath of the incident and well before the results of any inquiry, as youd expect,
all of our agencies are asking themselves the question: how could this person have slipped through the net?
How could this person have been under the radar? And one of the things we are doing is asking ourselves,
do we need to go back and have a look at people who have come to our attention previously and see what is
best done to ensure that the community is as safe as it humanly can be. And this is the assurance that I
constantly give to the Australian people. The first duty of government is the safety of the community and
this Government, this Prime Minister, will do everything it possibly can to keep you safe. We know that
there are people out there with evil intentions and we will do everything we humanly can to protect you
from them.
[ends]

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