from PoliticOz …..

The threat of terrorism is, according to a new report into the government's counter-terrorism arrangements, higher than it has been in Australia for a long time. As Tony Abbott said during his major speech on national security this morning, since the national terror threat was raised to "high" in September, there have been two so-called "lone wolf" attacks – one by an 18-year-old in Melbourne, and the other in Sydney by a "self-styled" cleric authorities had previously dismissed as a lunatic. So authorities must respond.

What Abbott wants Australians to accept is that they are now living in a "new, long-term era of heightened terrorism", and the only response available is to tighten freedoms so as to prevent them being "used against us". A more direct reference to George Orwell's perpetual war in 1984 can scarcely be imagined. Abbott repeated his insistence that Man Haron Monis was given "the benefit of the doubt" at the border, at Centrelink and even when he applied for legal aid and bail. But as Julian Burnside had already pointed out, blaming the Sydney siege on immigration failures is patently ludicrous, given that Monis first arrived in Australia in 1996. Abbott ostensibly relied on the recently-completed report into the Martin Place siege to support his arguments, but that report explicitly found there were no signs that would have justified acting against Monis before the siege.

Today's speech was also very likely the last roll of the dice for a terminally embattled prime minister who now suffers constant leaks against him from cabinet colleagues. Over the weekend, News Corp ran one report claiming that Abbott had contemplated unilaterally sending ground troops to Iraq, and another suggesting he personally intervened to ensure that millionaires weren't denied the pension. But today, Abbott simply re-announced proposed changes to citizenship laws and metadata retention, and announced future announcements on additional restrictions on immigration, welfare and presumption of liberty and innocence. Abbott came to power promising more freedom, but now he says there's too much of it. Whether he will be allowed to stay in the job long enough to see his promised restrictions into law is a very real question.