Anthony Albanese has flagged a substantial update of Australia’s counter-terrorism laws as he warned of the dangers posed by rightwing extremists and “so-called sovereign citizens”.
The prime minister said after a national cabinet meeting in Canberra on Friday that the “premeditated, calculated murder” of two police officers and a neighbour in rural Queensland in December showed the need for action to protect community safety.
He also expressed hopes of making progress by the middle of the year on implementing a national firearms register.
The head of intelligence agency Asio, Mike Burgess, briefed national cabinet earlier on Friday. Albanese said Burgess had been invited to speak “about the rise of rightwing extremism, in particular the so-called sovereign citizens, and other issues as well”.
Asked for an update on the terrorism laws review that was foreshadowed by the home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, the prime minister said: “That work is certainly under way and is substantial.”
Albanese went on to offer a personal reflection about his attendance at the memorial service for Queensland police constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, saying it was “one of the most moving things that I’ve done in my life”.
The pair and a neighbour, Alan Dare, were shot dead on a rural property at Wieambilla by Gareth Train, his wife, Stacey, and his brother Nathaniel. A daughter of the killers spoke to Guardian Australia last month about their descent into conspiracy theories and ultimately, violence.
Albanese described the shooting as “a catastrophic premeditated, calculated murder that occurred there on the basis of a warped ideology”.
“It requires us to do what we can to keep the citizens we all represent safe,” Albanese said.
“We know that the threat is real and, tragically, we have seen the consequences of it.”
In addition to the ongoing review of terrorism laws, Albanese said it was “quite clear we need to do better in cooperation between jurisdictions when it comes to firearms”.
Police ministers across the country have been asked to report back to national cabinet mid-2023 with options to implement a national firearms register.
O’Neil said in December that the country’s counter-terrorism laws could be overhauled to better target the threat of rightwing extremism and neo-Nazism.
She reasoned that the current legislation may not capture the types of “lone wolf” or less sophisticated acts that were of increasing concern to security agencies.
Asio reported in 2021 that its investigations into ideologically motivated violent extremism – which includes white supremacists and neo-Nazis – were “approaching” 50% of its priority domestic counter-terrorism caseload.
In November 2022, Burgess confirmed that this caseload “did reach parity” with religiously motivated violent extremism, but it was now “slightly less than” 50% of the caseload.
At the time, authorities downgraded Australia’s terrorism threat level to “possible” after eight years as “probable”, but warned that it would be wrong to be complacent about enduring threats.
“Of course our biggest concern remains the actions of a lone actor or an individual that goes to violence with little or no warning, and that can come from either cohort,” Burgess told reporters in November.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told Guardian Australia last month the government would act on security advice.
“I think we need to pay attention to the director general of Asio saying there is a rising threat presented by politically motivated extremists and the threat of politically motivated violence, as distinct from religiously motivated violence,” Dreyfus said.
“Equally, we can take heart from the fact that the national threat level has dropped.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, Australian federal police said that a 37-year-old Tamworth man who advocated for violent terrorist acts in a series of racist and extremist messages on social media had been sentenced to two years and seven months in prison.
“The man, who was a prolific social media user, pleaded guilty to advocating online for acts of serious violence, including murder, to be committed against groups of people, which he identified by race, political viewpoints and occupation, including police officers and politicians,” the AFP said in a statement.
The statement said the man had also pleaded guilty to one count of improperly storing more than 8000 rounds of ammunition.
The AFP’s detective acting superintendent, Colin Hunt, said police continued to disrupt attempts by Australians calling for religious and ideologically motivated violence.
“Anyone thinking they can hide behind a keyboard to post abhorrent and violent messages that threaten the Australian community should think again,” Hunt said.
