http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/indonesia-not-on-visa-blacklist/story-e6frg6nf-1225833627254
Indonesia not on visa blacklist Paul Maley From: The Australian February 24, 2010 12:00AM INDONESIA, the world's most populous Muslim nation and the site of more Australian deaths at the hands of terrorists than any other country, will not be included in a list of 10 countries targeted for toughened visa screening rules aimed at thwarting terror attacks. As Kevin Rudd released his government's long-awaited counter-terrorism white paper yesterday, The Australian has learnt that Indonesia, Pakistan and India will not be among the 10 countries singled out for for toughened visa screening. This is despite those countries playing host to the overwhelming number of regional terror attacks. Yemen and Somalia -- identified in the white paper as the emerging epicentres of radical Islamic terrorism -- will be included. The white paper fingers home grown extremists -- as opposed to transnational groups such as al-Qa'ida -- as the main terror threat now confronting Australia. The Prime Minister said the threat of terrorism had become a "persistent and permanent feature" of Australian life. "The key threat comes from people who are adherents to the distorted and militant interpretation of Islam, that is espoused by groups such as al-Qa-ida," Mr Rudd said. He said $69 million would be spent over four years gathering fingerprint and facial data from visitors from 10 yet-to-be-revealed countries in an attempt to detect terrorists travelling to Australia. The biometric screening system will piggy-back a similar system already in place in Britain, which requires all people who travel to the UK on a visa to provide biometric data. A multi-agency Counter Terrorism Control Centre would also be set up within ASIO to identify intelligence priorities, the Prime Minister said. The white paper warned that Somalia and Yemen had emerged as new areas of radical Islamic terrorist activity, citing last year's thwarted plot by Somali and Lebanese extremists to attack Sydney's Holsworthy army barracks and the attempted bombing on Christmas day of a US-bound passenger jet, a plot organised by al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula. Writing in The Australian today, the Australian Security Policy Institute's Carl Ungerer welcomes the document as a "modest improvement" on the Howard government's 2004 white paper, which focused on foreign terrorism as the main threat. Dr Ungerer questions the spending priorities identified in the paper. "If homegrown terrorism is the problem, why is border security and a better visa system for foreigners the answer?" he says. Dr Ungerer says there would be little point including Indonesia and India on the list as they are not major exporters of terrorism. However, he says Pakistan should be a priority. Tony Abbott dismissed the white paper, which was released as the government sought to fend off a sustained attack on Environment Minister Peter Garrett's handling of the botched roof insulation scheme. "I suspect that like everything that this Government does it will be more talk than effective action," the Opposition Leader said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
