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CANBERRA - Australia's already heavy security precautions have been further tightened as counter-terrorism officers continued questioning an Indian-born doctor implicated in last week's attempted bombings in London and Glasgow.
As Prime Minister John Howard vowed not to be intimidated by the terrorism threat against Australia, police patrols were
strengthened for last night's rugby league State of Origin match in Brisbane.
The security ring around today's meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum trade ministers in Cairns will also be tightened, and protection for September's Apec leaders summit in Sydney is being reviewed.
Security for the summit - to be attended by United States President George W. Bush - will be unprecedented in Australia. The centre of the city will be virtually shut down and the skies above it patrolled by RAAF fighters with shoot-to-kill orders for any intruding aircraft.
Even with the extreme measures already planned, New South Wales acting Premier John Watkins said yesterday it would be foolish to not review security given the detention of Dr Mohammed Haneef in Brisbane following the foiled British bombings by an apparent cell of militant doctors.
"We will do all we can to prepare against, to control, to prevent, any incident that may occur, whether that's a public order matter through protesters or - horrible thought - a terrorist attack," he said.
"We are well-prepared but, especially following the incidents in the UK last week and closer to home, we continue to review those preparations."
Haneef, 27, was held on Monday night on a tip-off from British authorities as he arrived at Brisbane airport for a one-way flight to India via Malaysia.
An Australian Federal police spokeswoman said last night Haneef was still being questioned under a 48-hour extension of the time allowed to keep a person in custody for questioning under Australia's tough anti-terror laws.
This is the first time the provision has been invoked.
The spokeswoman would not comment on a report in the Australian that police wanted to interview five more people from India and Pakistan working in the nation's health sector.
The report said the five, all in their 20s, were believed to have arrived in Australia in the second half of last year - like Haneef - although one was thought to have already left the country.
A chief inspector from London's Metropolitan Police is flying to Australia to help interrogate Haneef, and Britain is expected to seek his extradition soon.
Before arriving to work at Gold Coast Hospital last September, Haneef is understood to have lived in the English city of Liverpool with one of the seven doctors arrested in Britain in connection with last week's thwarted bombings.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, citing the man's colleagues, described him as a "model citizen" and yesterday Howard warned against judging Haneef before any charges were laid.
"This man has been detained, he has been taken into custody, he has not been charged with any offence.
"Until he is ... it is appropriate to extend to him a presumption of innocence."
Gold Coast Health Service acting manager Dr Brian Bell told ABC radio yesterday Haneef was given emergency leave on Monday to visit his sick wife in India and that unless he was charged he would remain an employee of the hospital.
Dr Mohamed Asif Ali, another Gold Coast Hospital doctor questioned after Haneef's arrest and released without charge yesterday, told Channel Seven: "I'm totally unaware of anything. Please leave me alone."
Ali had previously lived with Haneef in Liverpool. Both were trained in India.
