PRIME
Minister John Howard has announced a national review of security
in the wake of the Bali bombing as he warned the nation to prepare
for many Australian casualties.
Large numbers of Australians are feared dead among the growing
toll of those killed in a blast which destroyed two bars in the
Kuta Beach district overnight.
Indonesian police said a short time
ago the death toll had climbed above 180.
The number of Australians killed is
unknown but at least 40 Australians were in Bali hospitals, with
some due to be evacuated to Australia for treatment.
Mr Howard will tomorrow convene an
urgent meeting of cabinet's national security committee to review
plans in place to protect Australian borders from a possible
terrorist attack.
But he warned Australia was not
immune and was as much a target as any other western country.
"People should get out of
their minds that it can't happen here; it can, and it has happened
to our own on our doorstep," Mr Howard told reporters.
"As a result of this, we will
review everything again. "I will have a meeting of the
national security committee of cabinet tomorrow. I will be seeing
some senior people in Canberra tonight ... and we will be looking
at everything again."
The review comes as Mr Howard
warned of a "significant number" of Australian
casualties in what he described as a barbaric and cowardly
terrorist attack.
"This wicked and cowardly
attack clearly on the evidence available to us, an act of
terrorism, can have no justification," Mr Howard said.
"There are many Australians
unaccounted for, many.
"We must therefore prepare
ourselves as a nation for the possibility of a significant number
of Australian deaths amongst the fatalities.
"The indiscriminate, brutal
and despicable way in which lives have been taken away on this
occasion by an act of barbarity will I know deeply shock all
Australians."
Mr Howard said many of the
Australians at the bars were young and were marking the end of a
sporting season with some fun.
"Sadly and tragically
terrorism has touched that innocent pursuit and touched it in a
brutal and very barbaric and quite unforgivable fashion," he
said.
Mr Howard warned Australians not to
travel to Bali until further notice.
An RAAF C130 with a medical team of
seven including surgeons will arrive in Denpasar tonight and could
medically evacuate 30 patients.
Further aircraft would be
dispatched as needed, Mr Howard said.
He spoke earlier with Indonesian
president Megawati Sukarnoputri who assured him she would pursue
those responsible for the attack.
He said while Indonesia had to
combat terrorism within its own borders, Australia would offer
support in hunting those responsible.
Opposition leader Simon Crean has
been briefed on the tragedy, and Mr Howard said both shared the
same sense of outrage.
"We both agree this is a huge
national tragedy for Australia and for Australians," Mr
Howard said.
The prime minister rejected the
suggestion Australians were made to pay for the nation's support
for the US in its pursuit of Iraq.
