If a modern-day Australian Rip Van Winkle were to awake from a two-decade slumber and turn on his television set or iPad, he would be stunned by the extent to which terrorism has come to dominate our lives.
Interspersed among international new stories featuring the latest terrorist bombings, assassinations and suicide attacks in far-flung regions of the world, he could not fail to notice the deep anxiety Australians feel about the likelihood of similar attacks taking place on Australian soil, or the Turnbull government’s preoccupation with preventing such attacks.