{"id":33859,"date":"2017-08-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=33859"},"modified":"2017-08-28T12:50:10","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T02:50:10","slug":"australias-strategy-protecting-crowded-places-will-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-strategy-protecting-crowded-places-will-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s strategy for protecting crowded places: will it work?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Sunday 20 August as the world was coming to grips with the Barcelona terror attacks, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled Australia\u2019s first national strategy for protecting crowded places<\/a> from terrorism. According to the PM, the aim<\/a> of the strategy, which was apparently developed in consultation with the business community and local councils, is to empower owners and operators of \u2018crowded places\u2019 to assess the vulnerability of their locations to terrorists who use \u2018basic weapons\u2019 such as vehicles, knives and firearms. The need for such an assessment stems from the government\u2019s expectation that terrorism will remain an enduring threat.<\/p>\n

One thing that becomes clear when reading the strategy is how loose the language is, which undermines its usefulness. This begins with the government\u2019s broad definition of \u2018crowded places\u2019 as \u2018locations which are easily accessible by large numbers of people on a predictable basis\u2019. The strategy makes it clear that the term encompasses both indoor facilities and open spaces, such as parks and pedestrian malls, that tend to be crowded at specific times of the day or night. Under that definition, just about any location could be a \u2018crowded place\u2019, and it\u2019s unclear what exactly the government expects the owners and operators of those places to do to \u2018protect\u2019 them.<\/p>\n

Rather worryingly, the strategy declares, \u2018Owners and operators have a responsibilit<\/em>y to undertake a risk assessment and\/or vulnerability analysis of their crowded place, implement the appropriate mitigations, monitor them for effectiveness (including through audits), and review them at appropriate junctures\u2019 (emphasis added). An immediate question is whether that responsibility is equated with liability: what would happen to a business that didn\u2019t take \u2018appropriate\u2019 measures? Business owners and operators are also required to \u2018raise awareness of possible security threats among their staff and patrons\u2019. Could a business be held legally responsible for failing to raise awareness? And how are businesses to determine what a heightened level of awareness might entail, and whether it\u2019s useful if it doesn\u2019t include staff training?<\/p>\n

The strategy also declares that \u2018in many cases, owners and operators will be required to seek further advice from private security professionals\u2019. Such obligations could require a business to spend thousands of dollars consulting with a security company and then pay even more to install whatever preventive measures are recommended. The strategy has a single paragraph on cost, which it links to proportionality. The language used in that section alone is woefully inadequate. It\u2019s littered with conflicting messages, such as noting that security measures can be resource-intensive and costly if not properly managed, while emphasising a need to turn to \u2018expert specialist advice\u2019 which is expensive. The government\u2019s advice on how to mitigate cost is to \u2018prioritise the highest risk areas of a crowded place\u2019 and make sure that security \u2018is incorporated into the design phase of a crowded place\u2019\u2014but, given the loose definition of \u2018crowded place\u2019, that could be a one-off sporting event.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Barcelona, there have been calls<\/a> for the erection of more bollards to prevent future vehicle-borne terrorist attacks. Such a reaction is understandable, but it may not be practicable. First, we need to decide what we want our cities to represent. The construction of bollards could be seen as another small victory for the other side, because it means we\u2019re adjusting our way of life to address the threats posed by jihadists. Second, installing bollards isn\u2019t cheap. And it often requires redirection of traffic and affects businesses by adding to delivery costs, not to mention making it hard for emergency services to get through when a crisis occurs. Finally, we are surrounded by soft targets and our lives revolve around cars.<\/p>\n

Even if we cordon off popular tourist areas or other crowded places, which in major cities are numerous, one must wonder whether that\u2019s likely to actually stop a terror attack, as those who wish to cause us harm may simply change their modus operandi. Terrorists are good at adapting. If they can\u2019t use explosives, they\u2019ll use vehicles, and if that\u2019s not possible they\u2019ll use knives (which they are increasingly using, as seen in Finland<\/a> and outside Buckingham Palace<\/a>). This is because the goal of all terrorists is to create fear<\/a> and widespread panic.<\/p>\n

The change in tactics is in part because governments have taken concrete measure to respond to explosive-based or vehicle-borne attacks. From the terrorists\u2019 side, vehicles and knives are a sure-fire way to extract maximum fear because they know that there\u2019s no way that governments can ban the use of cars or knives. They\u2019re also attractive to a group like Islamic State because they\u2019re low-tech: an individual needs no training to use a vehicle or a knife.<\/p>\n

The strategy is too thin on detail to be a useful tool. It places a great deal of responsibility on the business community, but it doesn\u2019t explain what help will be given to businesses beyond encouraging them to interact with the Business Advisory Group and ASIO\u2019s Business and Government Liaison Unit.<\/p>\n

In reacting to terrorism in the 21st century, it\u2019s imperative that policymakers recognise that their role is not to heighten the sense of insecurity that tends to become pervasive in the wake of a terror attack. To do so only feeds into the terrorists\u2019 dystopic goals. Policymakers must encourage resilience on the part of the public, and not only in \u2018crowded places\u2019. They also must recognise that the most effective way to respond to terror attacks is by continuing to address the root causes<\/a> of political violence, which are often linked to discrimination and a sense of alienation, as well as the corruption of ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Sunday 20 August as the world was coming to grips with the Barcelona terror attacks, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled Australia\u2019s first national strategy for protecting crowded places from terrorism. According to the PM, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":606,"featured_media":33862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[416,1513,273,127],"class_list":["post-33859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-government","tag-business","tag-counterterrorism","tag-terrorism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia\u2019s strategy for protecting crowded places: will it work? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-strategy-protecting-crowded-places-will-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia\u2019s strategy for protecting crowded places: will it work? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Sunday 20 August as the world was coming to grips with the Barcelona terror attacks, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled Australia\u2019s first national strategy for protecting crowded places from terrorism. 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