CANBERRA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government should consider creating an all-encompassing homeland security-style office to help fight terrorism, according to Australian security expert Jim Molan.
Speaking on Sky News on Wednesday morning, Molan, a security consultant and ex-army officer, said the ever-increasing threat of terror should prompt the government to create a new office to make it easier for Australia's security agencies to liaise and share vital information.
Currently, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are all considered to be very separate organizations, but Molan said integrating them would result in shared intelligence and a greater understanding of threats.
"We've done very well on counter-terrorism in this country, extraordinarily well. A lot of it is due to the fact that the government has put money back into intelligence organizations," Molan said on Wednesday.
"I'm still concerned that whenever we have an attack, we immediately 'do something' after it. There's always that statement that the individual or group 'were known to police' prior to the attack. Things are working well now, but I think the probability that we will face an increase in terrorist attacks, as the PM tells us, is inevitable.
"I think we're going to need a much more sophisticated setup than what we have right now. Not 'homeland security', not 'home office', but an Australian version of integrating all the agencies is needed."
Meanwhile, following the fall of Islamic State (IS) in Mosul, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's (ASPI) Peter Jennings said the overhanging threat posed by the return of foreign fighters and lone wolves would remain in Australia.
"We shouldn't imagine that the problem has now gone away. It's not finished, it's just been dealt a serious blow," Jennings told Sky News.