Australian PM Urges Developers to Design Protection From Vehicle Attacks

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on Sunday for developers to incorporate safety features into their projects to prevent militant attacks with vehicles and other weapons as he announced new plans to protect the public, Reuters reports.

Turnbull unveiled Australia's first national strategy to protect crowded places, which he said was initiated after an Islamist militant drove a truck into crowds in the French city of Nice in last year, killing 84 people.

It comes days after a similar attack in the Spanish city of Barcelona killed 13 and injuring more than 100, and follows a string of similar vehicle attacks around the world.

Turnbull told reporters the plan was designed for councils, businesses and venue operators to stop attacks with vehicles as well as with guns, knives, bombs or chemical devices.

Steps include the installation of bollards along main streets, and at shopping centers and outside sporting grounds.

Turnbull said while sites would be better protected, developers had to incorporate safety features into new projects on the drawing board.

"The best mitigation are done at the design," he said. "The most important thing is that, as you get new developments, new plans, that security measures are put in place at that time."/focus-fen.net/