Karen Andrews and Mike Pezzullo call for security review of Aussie politicians after Donald Trump assassination attempt

Former Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews warned it was “only a matter of time” before a key Australian politician was assassinated.

Her call for a review of Australia’s security measures followed that of former Home Affairs Minister Mike Pezzullo, who reminded politicians that the last review was completed 45 years ago.

Ms Andrews highlighted the recent assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally and the July 2022 assassination of former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe as signs of the turbulent state of modern politics.

“I had concerns about the level of security at the time of Shinzo Abe’s assassination. I also had some concerns about it when I was a minister,” she said. The Australian.

‘Parliamentarians are very visible and alarm bells are ringing.

‘Given the large number of threats that MPs receive on a regular basis, and that happens quite often, I have previously stressed the importance of ensuring adequate security and protection at the Australian Federal Police, including at the AFP.’

Ms Andrews, who was Home Secretary from March 2021 to May 2022, believes protective security must be “under constant review”.

She described the current state of security for Australia’s top ministers as merely “adequate”.

Mr Pezzullo has called for a full investigation into the protective security measures.

The last comprehensive inquiry was held in 1979 by Judge Robert Hope, following the 1978 bombing of the Sydney Hilton Hotel, which killed three people.

Fifteen years later, in 1994, New South Wales State MP John Newman was fatally shot in the driveway of his Cabramatta home in Sydney’s south-west during a late-night ambush.

According to Mr Pezzullo, a new investigation is needed to examine the current threat of political violence and murder in a modern context.

“Parliament, the government building, the judges and the courts and so on… It’s time for a top-down approach (look at this),” he told Sky News.

‘What I am talking about, as you do with a Defence Memorandum for example, is looking to the future – the threat of drones at open-air gatherings for example, new methods of attack.

‘Is it possible, for example, that terrorist groups, looking back at the 1970s and 1980s, could get their hands on the weapons they used, for example, to assassinate Margaret Thatcher in the Brighton hotel in 1984?

‘Huge quantities of explosives were used.’

Former US President Donald Trump (center) was injured in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally over the weekend

Mr Pezzullo noted that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will soon receive a report on the extent of improvements to Australia’s national security, led by Dr Heather Smith and Richard Maude.

He urged Mr Albanese to consider “future casting” for protective security “in the same way we do with defence and intelligence”.

James Paterson, the opposition’s Home Affairs spokesman, has also spoken out on the issue, saying it is vital that the AFP has “sufficient resources” and the “necessary powers to protect our institutions”.

“The last thing we want is to wake up the morning after a terrible event and wish we had done more,” he said

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil on Monday launched the report ‘Strengthening Australian Democracy’, in which she warned that the greatest threats to Australian democracy are declining public trust, foreign interference and a lack of social cohesion.

Mr Albanese admitted that the attempted assassination of Trump made him think about his own safety, ahead of next year’s federal election.

“It is important that democracy is cherished,” he told reporters on Monday.

“It is a great asset for us and we must strive for unity and respectful disagreement wherever we can.”