AUSTRALIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 001124 SIPDIS FOR S/CT RHONDA SHORE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS PINS PREL AEMR AS SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM REF: A. STATE 109980 ¶B. STATE 122733 ¶1. (U) The text of the report follows. The stakeholders at post, RSO, Legatt, and DEA have cleared the text. The embassy point of contact is Virgil Strohmeyer, strohmeyervb@state.gov. Australia Australia continued to play a leadership role in the fight against terrorism through multilateral and bilateral fora, including through the annual Trilateral Security Dialogue with Japan and the United States, and the Lombok Treaty with Indonesia. Late in December 2009, the government is expected to release its Counter Terrorism Defense White Paper outlining Australia's priorities in combating terrorism. The Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) assessed that terrorism remains a serious and immediate threat to Australia; that the Middle East, South Asia and now East Africa are the primary sources of motivation and capability for extremists in Australia; and that the number of Islamic extremists was very small and did not change substantially. There were no terrorist attacks in Australia in 2009; there has not been one since 1986. The most serious terrorism case was the arrest of five men for allegedly planning a suicide attack on an Australian military base. The Australian National Counter-Terrorism Committee (NCTC) alert level remained at medium. On August 12, the government announced proposed reforms to counterterrorism legislation including expanding the definition of a "terrorist act" in the Criminal Code to include psychological, as well as physical harm; extending the expiration period of regulations proscribing a terrorist organization from two to three years; extending parliamentary oversight of the Australian Federal Police (AFP); and providing further limits on the period a suspect can be held without charge. The government directed intelligence agencies - including the Australian Transaction and Reports Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) which monitors financial transactions - to increase monitoring of small transactions sent abroad. "The Hawala network, that is, the Islamic financial network, is a very, very difficult thing to police, but there are intelligence capabilities to look at how these things operate," the Attorney-General said. 18 groups were included on the Listing of Terrorist Organizations. In 2009, 10 groups were re-listed, including the Kurdistan Workers Party, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ansar al-Islam and Asbat al-Ansar and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. --In February, seven men from Melbourne were sentenced to jail terms, ranging from four and a half to 15 years, for their involvement in planning terrorist activities. They were arrested in November 2005, during concerted actions on suspected Muslim terrorist groups in Melbourne and Sydney. An eighth, who trained in Afghanistan, was sentenced to five years jail in September (another, who pled guilty, was jailed in August 2007). --In October, five Sydney men (arrested as part of a series of raids in 2005) were found guilty of plotting terrorist attacks. Sentencing hearings will begin on December 14, ¶2009. Soon after, it was revealed four other men involved in the plot had pled guilty and had been sentenced to jail terms - two of them are now free. --In August, five Melbourne men, some with alleged links to Somali militant group al-Shabab, were charged with plotting an attack on a Sydney army barracks. On August 21, al-Shabab was listed as a terrorist organization. Qwas listed as a terrorist organization. --In September, a Lebanese-born Sydney man, Bilal Khazal, was sentenced to 12 years jail for posting a terrorism handbook titled "Provisions on the Rules of Jihad" on the internet. In December 2003, he and his brother were sentenced in absentia by a Lebanese military tribunal for financing an Islamic extremist group, which bombed U.S. businesses. The National Security Adviser (NSA),a position created December 2008, help the Prime Minister on all policy matters relating to the security of the nation, including countering terrorism, and overseeing the implementation of all national security policy arrangements. A National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) chaired by the NSA ensured that national intelligence efforts were integrated across governmental agencies. The National Security Committee of CANBERRA 00001124 002 OF 002 Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, was the focal point of national security decision making. The Lombok Treaty between Australia and Indonesia provided the model for further international bilateral CT cooperation. Law enforcement cooperation included police-to-police coordination, particularly in trafficking in persons, trade in illicit drugs, border control, defense, and terrorism. Australia assisted Indonesia in the investigation of the July hotel bombings in Jakarta. Australian multilateral engagement continued in forums such as the United Nations, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Pacific Island Forum, and G8 Counterterrorism Action Group, as well as in the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. Australia has counterterrorism memoranda of understanding with Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Bangladesh. The AFP, ASIO and other intelligence bodies liaise with their overseas counterparts. Australia continued to provide legal drafting assistance to regional states seeking to adopt international conventions and protocols against terrorism, and to bring their law codes into conformity with these conventions. ASIO reported the number of Islamic extremists willing to use violence was very small and did not change substantially between July 2008 and June 2009. It found further evidence of hostile intelligence services using the internet in attempts to steal confidential government and business information, and discovered continuing state-sponsored efforts to procure materiel and knowledge for weapons programs - including weapons of mass destruction. The public was encouraged to report suspicious activity to the National Security Hotline. In October Australia participated in the Fifth Regional Interfaith Dialogue in Perth, which was sponsored by Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines. It aimed to promote peace and understanding through interfaith links. Within Australia, the government funded projects encouraging tolerance of religious diversity, particularly focusing on strengthening goodwill between Muslims and non-Muslims. Australia and the United States exchanged information on known and suspected terrorists using the Terrorist Screening Center and APEC's Regional Movement Alert System (RMAS). Australia participated in the Visa Waiver Program; it complied with requirements related to information sharing relating to counterterrorism cooperation. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) boosted its contribution in Afghanistan to approximately 1550. Around 800 additional personnel were deployed elsewhere in the Middle East. CLUNE