ATTRACTIVE statues and seats acting as barricades in popular stadiums, bridges, shopping centres and shared traffic zones across the country are part of a new plan to block terrorists from ploughing vehicles into pedestrians.
A report called Australia’s Strategy for Protecting Crowded Places from Terrorism, warned that terrorists are seeking larger vehicles such as trucks to carry large amounts of explosive to cause greater casualties and that barriers including concrete bollards, planter boxes or monuments should be used for protection.
It also highlighted the risk of terror cells using chemical weapons, warning that “mass casualties” are possible.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commissioned the report following the 2016 Nice terror attack which saw a Tunisian claiming links to the Islamic State group killed 86 people.
Following the tragedy, Nice residents questioned why city authorities hadn’t installed barriers — even though IS extremists had explicitly encouraged followers to “crush” enemies with cars.
Mr Turnbull announced a new national security strategy with the release of the report today.
Aside from maintaining constant vigilance there will be a greater use of permanent bollards to separate vehicles from pedestrians and more use of police and agencies around mass gatherings.
“You can have bollards, you can have seating. (For example), some of the seating in the Pitt St mall is positioned in a way that would provide a barrier to a vehicle,” Mr Turnbull said.
The new barriers could come in the form of steps, art and statues, according to the prime minister.
“At the design stage it can be done very unobtrusively,” he said.
“This work has been underway for a year. It’s been finalised recently, discussed by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). All jurisdictions, states and territories are very familiar with it.
“It’s part of our continuous program of optimising and improving the way we can keep Australians safe.”
The plan was given to Australian businesses and councils last week, and outlines ways to prevent vehicle attacks similar to those seen in Barcelona, Nice, and London.
