Australia's largest anti-terrorism exercise ends

Australia's largest-ever counter- terrorism exercise, Mercury 05, ended Thursday as both the federal government and the defense described it as a success.

The four-day exercise included mock bombing attacks or threats in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, capital cities of the states of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.

It also included a threat to gas facilities in South Australia, a siege following the hijacking of a busload of foreign athletes and the recovery of a foreign vessel with terrorists aboard.

Poison gas attacks, shootouts with terrorists and a variety of other dramatic simulated events were also played out in the exercise.

The exercise centered on cooperation between Australian, State and Territory agencies and their communication with each other and the Australian public, and also tested Australia's new Joint Offshore Protection Command arrangements.

Australian Justice and Customs and Acting Attorney-General Chris Ellison said the exercise had met all objectives and reinforced some valuable lessons for more than 4,000 participating members of national security agencies and emergency services.

The main aim of the exercise is testing the security preparedness in the lead-up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next March, which will attract some 4,500 athletes from more than 70 countries.

"The exercise tested preparations for the Games and practiced arrangements which operate under the revised National Counter- Terrorism Plan, with participation at the highest levels of Commonwealth and State and Territory Government," Ellison said in a statement.

"As well as the men and women on the frontline of the response, the Prime Minister, Premiers and senior ministers were all involved in decision-making to test the effectiveness of national and jurisdictional plans," he said.

"More than a year of planning and development went into making Mercury 05 as realistic as possible, and the response from our police, intelligence, defense, security and emergency services personnel was outstanding," he said.

Meanwhile, Australian Defense Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said the exercise further reinforced the defense's readiness to respond quickly and effectively to a terrorist threat or incident.

"I am always confident in the ability of our defense force personnel to safeguard the Australian public, and the results and lessons drawn from the exercise will better position us for our role in providing security support to major events such as the 2006 Commonwealth Games," he said in a statement.

Source: Xinhua