After Christchurch: Australia Invests in Fight Against Extremism

(Patria) - Australia's conservative government announced on Tuesday that it intends to increase financial support for the fight against violent extremism by 270 million dollars over the next four years, reports Patria.

Australian Minister Peter Dutton explained the decision by the need to 'remain vigilant regarding the threat of violent extremism following the tragic events in Christchurch'.

The fund will serve to finance additional investigative teams and new methods for investigating growing threats, Dutton said.

An additional 35 million Australian dollars will be allocated to the fight against foreign interference.

Minister Dutton also revealed that the government plans to establish a Foreign Threat Assessment Centre to be run by the Australian Federal Police and the intelligence service, media agencies report.

Earlier this year, the Australian government suspected that a member of a foreign state government was behind a cyber attack on the internet network of the country's parliament, as well as the three largest political parties, Reuters reports.  

Just two years earlier, based on allegations of Chinese interference, then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced new strict rules aimed at protecting against foreign meddling. His allegations about China led to a deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Reuters writes that lobbyists linked to foreign governments are now required to register in Australia, while the country's government has banned offshore political donations.