Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Thursday proposed series of tough new anti-terrorism measures which will be discussed at a meeting of state and territory leaders later this month.

Howard said he announced the measures now in order to give state and territory leaders time to consider them before the summit on Sept. 27.

Under the new measures, Australian Federal Police (AFP) would be able to seek from a court a 12-month control order on people who posed a terrorist risk to the community.

"These will be similar to apprehended violence orders but would allow stricter conditions to be imposed on a person such as travel and association restrictions and tracking devices," he said.

A new commonwealth preventative detention regime would allow suspects to be detained for up to 48 hours in a terrorism situation.

"As is the case in the UK, the focus of preventative detention is primarily about stopping further attacks and the destruction of evidence," Howard said.

Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) and AFP would be given greater access to airline passenger information and existing offenses for the financing of terrorism would also be strengthened.

Howard said the federal government also intended to legislate for an extension of the stop, question and search powers of AFP where there are reasonable grounds that a person might have just committed, might be committing, or might be about to commit a terrorism offense.

Meanwhile, a nationalized closed circuit television system would be put in place to monitor public transport hubs.

ASIO powers to record people's movements and conversations would be extended, while validity of warrants allowing ASIO to access and seize property also would be expanded.

The federal government also wants a new offense created for leaving baggage unattended at airports and major changes are proposed to deal with people who incite violence.

The terrorism offenses in the criminal code will also be clarified, and the criteria for listing terrorist organizations extended to include groups which advocate terrorism.

However, Howard said the federal government was trying to balance the rights of individuals against the needs of the community.

He said the proposed changes were necessary to protect his country and expected the states to support them.

Source: Xinhua