AUSTRALIA: Australia has received specific information about a possible "terrorist threat" to the country, Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday, but Australia's medium security alert remained unchanged.
"The government has received specific intelligence from police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat," Mr Howard told reporters in Canberra.
Mr Howard refused to give any details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government would rush through changes to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond.
Australia, a staunch US ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil. The country has been on medium security alert since shortly after the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the US.
News of the threat saw the Australian stock market fall half a per cent and the Australian dollar dip, touching a four-month low.
Mr Howard's warning comes as the nation's domestic intelligence service, the Australia Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), acknowledged for the first time that Australia had home-grown extremists.
Four Australians are awaiting trial in Sydney and Melbourne on terror charges, linked to supporting and training groups such as al-Qaeda.