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Reuters

Australia’s budget for the 2019-20 financial year will include an additional A$570 million (US$404 million) for national security to boost counterterrorism and anti-espionage operations, The Weekend Australian newspaper reported on Saturday.
The extra spending package for domestic spy agency the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) will fund programmes such as anti-drone technology for the police and intelligence gathering in offshore conflict zones.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will unveil a budget on Tuesday that is expected to feature an avalanche of spending to try to arrest his conservative government’s slide in popularity.
The delivery of the budget for the year beginning July 1 will be a launching pad for a general election due in May.
The killing of 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15 has sparked debate about Australia’s readiness to fight extremism.
An Australian man, a suspected white supremacist, has been charged with one count of murder and is expected to face more charges at his next court appearance on Friday.
Morrison said the extra money for security was not a response to concerns Australia had let extremists slip through its net.
“No, no. What this is a recognition of the growing threat of extremist terrorism in so many different terms,” he said in televised remarks.
Australian teen charged with terror offences after making social media posts
The Weekend Australian reported that most of the new spending would go to the police. The agency was expected to receive a A$512 million increase over the next five years to cope with a seven-fold increase in counterterrorism operations and an eight-fold increase in the number of people being monitored under a security watch list, it said.


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Australia

Australia to boost national security funding by US$400 million, media reports

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Central Office building. Photo: Wikimedia

Police officers stand guard during a counterterrorism raid at a house in the north-western suburbs in Melbourne, Australia in November 2018. Photo: EPA

Radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir will be free to ‘preach hate’, Australia warns Indonesia

Firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is to be granted early release from jail following a decision by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Photo: Reuters

epa07246175 Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks to the press during a media event in Sydney, Australia, 23 December 2018. Thousands of Australians with multiple sclerosis will save more than 35,000 US dollar a year with the listing of a new medicine on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in Australia. EPA-EFE/JOEL CARRETT AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Indonesian President Joko Widodo speaks to the media about the deaths of construction workers after a shooting in the country's easternmost province of Papua, at the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia December 5, 2018 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Wahyu Putro A/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. INDONESIA OUT.

in this Tuesday, July 22, 2014, file photo, Prabowo Subianto gestures during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia. The retired Indonesian general Subianto announced Wednesday he'll run for president in an election due next year, confirming an establishment challenger to current president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

People attend a rally outside the police headquarter jail in Jakarta on May 10, 2017, to show support for Basuki Tjahaja Purnama -- known by his nickname Ahok. Indonesia is facing renewed calls to repeal its controversial blasphemy law after the jailing of Jakarta's Christian governor, with critics pointing to a sharp increase in its use to target minorities. / AFP PHOTO / BAY ISMOYO

TO GO WITH AFP STORY "Indonesia-attacks-family" by Aubrey Belford Students study inside their classroom at the Ngruki Islamic school founded by hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir in Ngruki, central Java, on April 14, 2008. In a country where most Muslims adhere to a liberal strain of the religion, the school and others like it are far outside the mainstream. While the Ngruki school recruits students from the wider community, it also draws from a core of families that have been committed to hardline Islam for generations. AFP PHOTO/Adek BERRY

Mexican drug cartels are targeting Australia, say police after busting a record A$1.29 billion of meth in joint US-Australia investigation

Drugs, passports, money and other evidence are displayed during a police press conference in Melbourne, Australia, on Friday. Photo: EPA

epa07351856 Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh (L) speaks to the media during a police press conference in Melbourne, Australia, 08 February 2019. According to media reports, 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine has been seized in the United States bound for Australia. A joint USA/Austrlalia investigation led to the seizure of the drugs, and six people in Australia have been arrested as a result. The methamphetamine, as well as smaller amounts of heroin and cocaine, were hidden inside electronics equipment and had an estimated value of over 911 million US dollar. EPA-EFE/ERIK ANDERSON AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

epa07351859 Drugs, passports and money are displayed among other evidence during a police press conference in Melbourne, Australia, 08 February 2019. According to media reports, 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine has been seized in the United States bound for Australia. A joint USA/Austrlalia investigation led to the seizure of the drugs, and six people in Australia have been arrested as a result. The methamphetamine, as well as smaller amounts of heroin and cocaine, were hidden inside electronics equipment and had an estimated value of over 911 million US dollar. EPA-EFE/ERIK ANDERSON AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

epa07351858 AFP Assistant Commissioner Organised Crime Bruce Hill (C-R) speaks to the media during a police press conference in Melbourne, Australia, 08 February 2019. According to media reports, 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine has been seized in the United States bound for Australia. A joint USA/Austrlalia investigation led to the seizure of the drugs, and six people in Australia have been arrested as a result. The methamphetamine, as well as smaller amounts of heroin and cocaine, were hidden inside electronics equipment and had an estimated value of over 911 million US dollar. EPA-EFE/ERIK ANDERSON AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

British drug suspect arrested after fleeing Australia on a jet ski armed with a crossbow

Australian Border Force personnel with the suspect and the jet ski he used to try to escape. Photo: Handout

British conspiracy theorist David Icke says he’s a ‘victim of smear campaign’ after Australia bars him from entering the country

David Icke. Photo: Facebook

Houses stand by the waterfront in the suburb of Woolwich as the Sydney Harbor Bridge stands in the distance in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. Australia's opposition Labor Party is proposing scaling back tax breaks for landlords that have helped fuel a 50 percent increase in property prices in capital cities since 2008. Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Australia seeks to rekindle China ties with ‘turbo charged’ US$31 million foundation after Huawei ban, foreign interference claims

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a press conference at Waterfront Place in Brisbane. Photo: EPA

The Huawei logo is pictured outside their research facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

News

Asia

Australasia

PM Scott Morrison insisted the extra money was not a response to concerns the country had let extremists slip through its net


PM Scott Morrison insisted the extra money was not a response to concerns the country had let extremists slip through its net.


Crime

Australia to boost national security funding by US$400 million, media reports

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}PM Scott Morrison insisted the extra money was not a response to concerns the country had let extremists slip through its net

PM Scott Morrison insisted the extra money was not a response to concerns the country had let extremists slip through its net