Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Thursday that more groups could be listed as banned terrorist organizations and more groups would come under scrutiny under the new anti-terrorist laws.

The new counter-terrorism laws were proposed by the federal government earlier this month, as Australia has become the only one in the core countries in the US-led coalition in Iraq which has never suffered a major terrorist attack on its home soil after the London bombings in July.

Australian state and territory leaders reached agreement with the federal government on the proposed new laws at a meeting earlier this week.

"It would be foolish of me to say that if the ambit for proscribing an organization as a terrorist organization has been widened, as it will by this legislation, that there are not bodies that could be considered," Ruddock was quoted by Australian Associated Press as saying in Adelaide, capital city of the state of South Australia.

"Obviously there may well be some, but I don't do that examination, it's done by competent authorities and they make recommendations to me," he said.

Ruddock said the proposed anti-terrorist laws would face review before being enacted, and it wouldn't take long to complete the process.

"I have at the moment a draft Bill. The prime minister has a copy, and we are both looking at the Bill. It's at quite an advanced stage," he said.

"We want to ensure that it accurately reflects the agreed position that we have taken," he said.

Source: Xinhua