Australia’s special forces will be on hand and may be called out if a terrorist incident occurs during the upcoming Rugby World Cup, Defence Minister Robert Hill said Thursday.
Tactical Assault Groups based in Sydney and Perth would be on standby, along with the Incident Response Regiment in Sydney and the Army’s 5 Aviation Regiment in Townsville, Queensland.
The tournament is the biggest sporting event to be hosted in Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Organisers have said they regard the event as ”low-risk” from a security standpoint, but are preparing for ”medium-risk” on the basis that too much security is better than too little.
”While there is no known specific threat of terrorism against the Rugby World Cup, defence’s counter-terrorism units are well prepared and positioned to assist police with highly trained, well-equipped and capable forces should the need arise,” Hill, who is visiting China, said in a statement released here.
These Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel could be called out if police and emergency services are unable to deal with an incident on their own, he said.
”These highly trained ADF personnel may be called on to help with bomb searches of venues. They could also be called out in response to an incident that police and emergency services do not have the capacity to deal with, such as a terrorist incident.”
The Rugby World Cup starts on October 10 in Sydney and runs through to November 22, with 48 matches at venues around Australia. — Sapa