Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart has 'no knowledge' of state specific threats from Islamic State
Queensland's top police officer has said he has no knowledge of any state specific terrorist threat following a genuine threat from Islamic State (IS) against Australians.
Police Commissioner Ian Stewart made the comments on 612 ABC Brisbane following an internet message from IS on Monday inciting followers to kill Australians.
The first formal call by the terrorist group and issued by the spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani ash-Shami, days after anti-terrorism raids in Sydney and Brisbane, has been treated as a genuine and serious threat by Australian intelligence agencies.
Anti-terrorism laws explained"We do not have, to my knowledge, any specific threat against any particular person, or particular building, or government asset at this stage," he said.
On ABC's Q&A program on Monday night Justice Minister Michael Keenan and his Opposition counterpart dismissed suggestions last week's terrorism raids in Sydney and Brisbane were some sort of political theatre.
Commissioner Stewart said those investigations were ongoing.
"Just because someone has been arrested doesn't mean we've stopped investigating. We are ongoing with that investigation."
He said Australians would be disturbed when they learned details of alleged plots linked to the recent raids.
"I actually think this is going to be a huge wake-up call to Queenslanders and Australians of the actual situation we faced during the last couple of weeks," he said.
"People will be disturbed when they hear the full story."
Keep a lid on the 'rednecks'
Commissioner Stewart also called on Queenslanders not to fuel feelings of isolation within the Muslim community.
A least one Queensland mosque has been graffitied and Muslims have said they have been abused amid the heightened terrorism fears.
At the weekend hundreds of people protesting against plans for a mosque on the Sunshine Coast came to verbal blows with the building's supporters.
"The diversity we have in this state is one of our greatest strengths. Probably one of our greatest weaknesses is we still have those people who don't really respect other cultures and religion," Commissioner Stewart said.
"Realistically many of those we could brand as rednecks and they're the type of people who do the graffiti, the graffiting and the other un-Queensland and un-Australian acts against those cultures.
"What I also ask the entire community to do is to work solidly with us so that we can identify and take action against those people wherever possible."