Attorney General George Brandis says Australia should be prepared for further “lone wolf” attacks in the medium-to-longer term as the terrorism threat evolves. Brandis highlighted the influence of Islamic State (IS) and other Islamist groups in how the terrorism threat has evolved from mass casualty attacks such as 9/11 to more simplistic plots. The government has increased its terrorism threat rating to ‘high’ and introduced new security laws to tackle the threat posed by those supporting Islamist extremist groups. Some 120 Australian nationals are believed to have travelled to Syria, while a further 160 are thought to support IS from within Australia.
