Kathy Marks: Putting the fear of God (and Isis) into the population

Abdul Numan Haider was shot at the Endeavour Hills police station. Photo / Getty Images

At first it was all clear. Abdul Numan Haider, the teenager shot dead by police in suburban Melbourne on Tuesday night after stabbing two officers, was a "known terrorism suspect" who had "made repeated threats against the Prime Minister".

But even as the lurid headlines were being written and as rolling TV news bulletins breathlessly reported the latest, sensational twist in Australia's homegrown terrorism saga, the story was already unravelling.

Neither the police nor the security agencies know of "any specific threats" against Tony Abbott, or anyone else for that matter, said the Australian Federal Police's Acting Commissioner, Andrew Colvin, adding that he was "very confident" on that point.

Rather, it was "a range of factors" that had "escalated" police interest in the 18-year-old in recent days, Colvin explained, culminating in Haider voluntarily appearing at Endeavour Hills police station, on Melbourne's south-eastern fringe, where he pulled a knife on police officers.

Those factors included "things he had been heard to say", and waving what appeared to be an Isis (Islamic State) flag in a shopping centre.

So far, so vague. But with the dramatic events unfolding only a day after Isis urged its followers to attack Westerners, including Australians, and less than a week after mass raids in Sydney and Brisbane foiled a beheading plot, according to police, public fears of a domestic terrorist attack have ratcheted up yet another notch.

And, at the risk of appearing cynical, that's the perfect environment for repressive new security and counter-terrorism laws to be rushed through Parliament - which is exactly what is happening this week. The new laws, among many other things, expand police powers to arrest and detain suspects, and permit them to secretly seize passports and search properties without advance warning. Reportedly, they will also enable the intelligence agency ASIO to monitor the entire Australian internet with just one warrant.

With an eye, perhaps, to sceptics who have questioned whether Isis really poses a threat to Australia, Abbott has been assiduously stoking fears. "I cannot promise that hideous events will never happen on Australian soil," he declared last week. And yesterday, commenting on the Melbourne incident: "This indicates that there are people in our community who are capable of very extreme acts."

Does it, though? We know that a teenager posted photos of himself on Facebook in military camouflage, along with an abusive message about "the dogs AFP and ASIO who are declaring war on Islam and Muslims". He may have waved an Isis flag in public. He assaulted two police officers with a weapon. Whether that all adds up to something more sinister than youthful folly, and a reckless act of violence, is not clear. And with Haider dead, we'll probably never know.

Never mind, it puts the fear of God, or Allah, or Isis, into the population. And that's good for the 24-hour TV and radio networks, good for the defence and security industries, and, above all, good for the Government. The Coalition's ratings have risen to a five-month high.