ASIO has identified restaurants and hotels in Australia as "potential primary targets" for a terrorist attack similar to the deadly bombings at Bali resorts last year. The director-general of the nation's intelligence agency, Paul O'Sullivan, this week warned restaurant and hotel managers that their businesses could be targeted. He also stressed there had been at least one terrorist attack planned against Australian interests a year for the past six years.Addressing the National Food Chain Safety and Security Strategy Conference, Mr O'Sullivan said Australian interests were "potential primary targets". "Explosives-based attacks against crowded venues have been conducted overseas, including against food service venues such as restaurants and hotels," he said.
He cited last year's second Bali bombing as a recent example of such targeting. "Such tactics could be applied to food service venues in Australia to significant effect," he said.
Mr O'Sullivan said there was also potential for terrorists to use food contamination as a weapon. He said the case of Masterfoods having to withdraw its Mars and Snickers bars from shelves at a cost of $10 million and the Arnotts biscuits scare, which cost the company $22 million, showed how damaging an attack could be. "These events can have a wider impact on the community and, in extreme cases, have the potential to undermine the community's confidence in the safety and integrity of the food supply," Mr O'Sullivan said.
"It would not be surprising, therefore, if such an impact might hold appeal for a potential terrorist.
"One might hypothesise that crude contamination of foods might represent one of the simplest means to conduct an attack – and even a limited attack would likely cause considerable community anxiety."
Mr O'Sullivan called on the food sector to take precautions and work with government to develop risk management plans. He said ASIO was working on sector-specific threat assessments, each of which took the agency about a year to develop. The spy agency had also set up a business unit to provide advice to corporate security managers on planning their response to terrorism.
Mr O'Sullivan said the terrorist threat was not going away. "Although current activity by intelligence, law enforcement and other agencies may have disrupted some terrorist planning, there is no indication that the threat is abating," he said.