MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Australian Defense Force (ADF) will be given more capabilities to assist the police in countering the terror threat, although the police personnel will stay the main responders, Turnbull said Monday.
Turnbull added that the Australian government’s major focus was to be ahead of the threat, overhaul and enhance law enforcement services’ capabilities to ensure the country’s safety.
"State and territorial police are and will remain the primary responders to any terrorist attack. The immediate actions of those first responders will have the greatest impact in terms of saving lives and neutralizing any threat," Turnbull stressed, adding that the ADF had capabilities to deal with complex terror attacks.
Nations around the globe strive to counter the increasing terror threat via all available means, including the adoption of additional security measures and joining various international coalitions. Over the past two years, the globe has witnessed multiple terror attacks, including on such European cities as Paris, Brussels, Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm, among others. On December 15-16, 2014, a gunman took hostage 18 people in Sydney and eventually killed two of them.