Delivering a landmark security and strategic policy speech just 24 hours after the murderous terrorist attacks in Brussels, the Prime Minister painted a grim picture of the problem across a continent that has few internal borders, and where sections of its external borders are beset with unregulated entries. Crossbench senator Bob Day says Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reached out to crossbench senators to secure support for his ABCC bill. Credit:Andrew Meares He said "failed and neglected integration" had fuelled a terrorism "perfect storm" that is now at crisis point and which had left the continent's security agencies struggling to cope with a rising tide of violent Islamist extremism. "The attacks are an unfortunate reminder of the current challenges facing Europe, where violent Islamist extremism appears to have reached a crisis point," he told the Lowy Institute. "European Governments are confronted by a perfect storm of failed or neglected integration, foreign fighters returning from Iraq and Syria, porous borders and intelligence and security apparatus struggling to keep pace with the scope and breadth of the threat.

"For all intents and purposes there are no internal borders in Europe and their external borders are difficult to manage. Recent intelligence indicates that ISIL is using the refugees crisis to send its operatives into Europe. Illustration: Ron Tandberg. "We must remember to take care not to view our strategic circumstances solely through the prism of counter-terrorism. Terrorism is an example of the propaganda of the deed - it is designed to frighten and intimidate. It is designed to deter us from our normal way of life." The comments came as Mr Turnbull also transmitted a positive message to Australian Muslims, praising their contribution in this country's achievement of high levels of social cohesion and religious tolerance. "Terrorism is designed to make us turn on each other. That is why my Government works hard to promote inclusion and mutual respect, ensuring that all communities and all faiths feel part of ours, the most successful multicultural society in the world."

Those comments also served as a reminder to those elements within the Coalition who have spoken out against the Muslim communities in the past, that the Turnbull government believes Australia's situation is materially different, precisely because of its commitment to religious freedom and cultural pluralism. The sense that authorities in Belgium are no longer able to contain outbreaks of violent extremism - a feeling readily apparent in Mr Turnbull's speech - was also pervasive among the views expressed by terrorism experts both in Australia and Europe. Claude Moniquet, a 20-year veteran of France's external security agency, said European authorities could not watch the thousands of people who formed what he called "the most important security threat we've had in Europe for decades". "The security police have not enough means to do it … They have to prioritise. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's wrong," he said. Mr Turnbull highlighted the fact that the Coalition has significantly toughened national security laws in Australia and said that "our allies regard our national security laws as among the world's best".

Mr Moniquet, who now heads the Brussels-based European Strategic, Intelligence and Security Centre, said that Europe would likely have to toughen its counter-terrorism laws - including a version of "preventative detention" that Australia already uses. And it would need to clamp down on its external borders - a significant difference from Australia that Mr Turnbull also emphasised as a key difference between Europe and Australia. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who was born and raised in Belgium, said the attacks would no doubt "cause governments and people in these countries to reflect on what else needs to be done to prevent these things from happening in the future", though he refused to be drawn on whether and how Europe should tighten its borders. Mr Turnbull's scripted comments in his Lowy address followed an earlier observation that Europe had let its security "slip" in recent years, and that its problems were not unrelated to that. However, opposition leader Bill Shorten suggested that was in poor taste, given the scale of the tragedy in Belgium. "I think it's premature for the Prime Minister be telling the Belgians what they did wrong within 24 hours of what happened in Belgium," Mr Shorten said.

"No doubt the hard questions will be asked in coming days." Follow us on Twitter