Australia to rush through anti-terror law changes

Australia has received information about a possible "terrorist threat" to the country, Prime Minister John Howard disclosed yesterday.

"I don't want to over-alarm people," he said. "I have said for a long time the possibility of an attack is there."

Mr Howard said the Government had received "specific intelligence from police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat".

He refused to give any details about the threat, which did not affect Australia's medium security alert.

Mr Howard's comments came a few hours before the Federal Government rushed through changes to anti-terror laws to make it easier to prosecute people plotting an attack.

Australia has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil.

The country has been on medium security alert since shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

News of the threat saw the Australian stock market fall about half a per cent and the Australian dollar dip, touching a four-month low.

"This will definitely spook some investors," said Garry Diakos, a dealer at Shaw Stockbroking.

Mr Howard's warning comes as the domestic intelligence service, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), acknowledged for the first time that the country had home-grown extremists, some of whom had received terror training overseas.

"Some of the more extremist individuals ASIO has identified and investigated are Australian-born," the agency said in its annual report, adding that some suspects were angry about the war in Iraq, while others believed they did not fit into Australian society.

Media reports said ASIO was believed to have concerns about up to 800 Muslims in Australia who have voiced support for politically motivated violence.

Up to 80 people resident in Australia were known to have trained with militant organisations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

- REUTERS