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Australian police and intelligence agencies need urgently to take stock, bolster resources and undertake training exercises for mass terrorist attacks similar to the Paris tragedy, according to former counter-terrorism investigators.
In the wake of the co-ordinated attacks across the French capital on Friday, the AFP and ASIO have assured the government that there is nothing to warrant raising Australia's terror alert level from high.
A NSW Police spokesman said they are "continuing to monitor the situation in Paris but there is no information of any immediate threat in Australia and members of the public are urged to go about their daily lives as usual".
Despite unconfirmed reports that some of the French attackers arrived with recent migrant intakes from Syria, the AFP and ASIO told Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Sunday the bigger threat at home has traditionally been second- and third-generation Australians.
Former AFP counter-terrorism investigator Leah Farrall said Australia's geographic isolation meant it was less vulnerable than France, where attackers reportedly planned their assault from neighbouring countries and easily crossed borders.
"We don't have the permissive environment in terms of the free flow of people that Europe's borders allow so we should have a better ability to scan our environment... but that requires the right mix of resources, tools, people, legislative support, intelligence sharing and it has to be forward looking."
Dr Farrall, a research associate at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre, said there was an urgent need to take stock of individuals who have the influence or the capacity to carry out an attack in Australia, and to plan to ensure "red flags" weren't missed.
"The new reality is a reactive mode," she said. "You need consistency and continuity in your intelligence efforts, particularly in terms of ongoing evaluation of the state of the environment, and I wonder whether we do have that capacity. Certainly the French will be asking those questions."
A federal review of Australia's counter-terrorism machinery in January said resources were "strained" and counter-terrorism efforts had been "largely reactive".
A $632.3 million funding boost in August reversed what would have been a funding decline since 2013.
"With the successes in dealing with major threats, coupled with pressure on funding, the national security community tended to focus on major plots at the expense of seemingly lower priority issues and some strategic concerns," the review said.
Clarke Jones, co-director of the Australian Intervention Support Hub at the Australian National University, said off-the-radar lone wolf attacks were still the biggest threat and intelligence methods and co-ordination were generally strong enough "to pick up something of the nature" of the highly-planned Paris attacks.
He said there was some indication that Islamic State were deliberately planting jihadists in refugee flows, a new strategy that signals "a lot of trouble domestically and a sign that IS is now pushing outwards, which wasn't the initial intention".
Nick O'Brien, former head of international counter-terrorism for New Scotland Yard, said state police in all major Australian cities need to conduct training exercises with multiple attacks on soft targets using a variety of different methods like suicide bombers and assailants with Kalashnikov rifles.
"We need to review whether we can cope with these kinds of attacks," he said.
In May, NSW police undertook a training exercise simulating an attack on the Holsworthy army base.
Dr Farrall said authorities should also be re-considering the focus on countering violent extremism in Muslim communities, shifting attention to local responses rather than "fancy-named units that are trying to fight an ideology we don't even understand".
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