Australia's spies closely monitoring extremists: Keating
Australia's spies closely monitoring extremists: Keating
CANBERRA (Reuter): Australia's intelligence agencies are closely monitoring the growing threat of violent anti-Asian, right-wing and religious extremist groups, Prime Minister Paul Keating said yesterday.
His comments followed a report by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) warning of a series of threats facing Australia.
Volatile anti-Indonesian protests also raised fears for the safety of visiting Indonesian leaders, ASIO said in its annual report, handed to parliament on Tuesday.
And ASIO said Canberra's push for more involvement in Asia could spark a violent backlash by anti-Asian groups, warning of threats from the rise of violent religious extremist groups, right-wing militias and the emergence of doomsday groups similar to Japan's Aum Shinri Kyo sect.
"Some domestic groups are becoming increasingly active in making violent public statements against Australia's engagement with east and south-east Asia," ASIO said.
Keating said security agencies would monitor potential threats and report to the government.
"And they'll do a professional task in keeping surveillance on these type of groups," he told reporters.
ASIO said some domestic groups were becoming increasingly violent in pushing their causes.
"Volatile anti-Indonesian protest activity continued in 1994- 95, raising concerns for the security of Indonesian visitors such as vice president (Try) Sutrisno and Dr (B.J.) Habibie, the Minister for Research and Technology," ASIO said.
Australian authorities kept details of the schedules of Habibie and Sutrisno secret during their visits here.
ASIO also warned of the rise of right-wing extremists similar to those blamed for April's Oklahoma City bombing in the United States.
Earlier this year, ASIO uncovered a clandestine Christian extremist paramilitary group with members in the defense department.
"This group had ready access to weapons and talked about using violence in support of its anti-government, anti-Asian political agenda," ASIO said.
The June firebombing of the honorary French consulate in the western city of Perth, in a protest at Paris' resumption of nuclear testing, "showed the willingness of some individuals to take criminal action", ASIO said.
In the lead up to hosting the Olympic Games in the year 2000, ASIO said Australia must be careful of the possible emergence of doomsday groups.
"A more immediate parallel can be drawn between the extremist right-wing militia groups now flourishing in the United States and the emergence in Australia of groups with similar ideologies," ASIO said.
ASIO's report to parliament was a censored version of a classified report on its activities.