CANBERRA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he is leading a Parliamentary push to allow the nation's armed forces to quickly intervene and lead major counter-terrorism operations, saying many in Canberra hold reservations about how local police respond to major incidents.
Abbott has called for special commandos to be deployed to deal with terror situations, in the wake of the weekend's terror attack in London, which left at least seven dead and scores injured after three men drove a van into London Bridge and attacked pedestrians with knives, as well as the New South Wales coroner's findings from December 2014's deadly Sydney cafe siege.
In the findings of a review of the Sydney cafe siege, it was determined that the police response took too long, and may have contributed to the deaths of two of the hostages.
At a press conference on Monday, the former PM said the government and police should take a "zero tolerance" approach to terror situations, applauding the "shoot-to-kill" response of London police during the attack at the weekend.
Abbott added that, in Australia, there was still sufficient unease about the capabilities of local police and security forces when faced with terror and hostage situations.
"We cannot tolerate the intolerant and we cannot tolerate people who wish us very serious harm, and that's why it's important that there be the strongest possible in terrorist situations," Abbott told the press.
Earlier, Abbott told News Corp newspapers that an increasing number of politicians were backing a push to change the country's Defence Act to allow the insertion of Tactical Assault Groups (TAGs) into terror situations - taking the lead from local police forces.
"In the case of multiple or complex terrorist incidents, as soon as that is established, the military should become the lead agency in terms of the operations," Abbott said on Monday.
Meanwhile Senator David Fawcett, chair of the Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, agreed with Abbott, telling News Corp that the current law, as it stands under the Defence Act, creates "unnecessary delays" for deployment of TAGs.
"The Defence Act currently requires a state or territory government to request assistance before the TAGs can be deployed," Fawcett said.
"This unnecessarily delays deployment of the most effective force to deal with the threat."
