The head of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) says the agency is investigating hundreds of terrorist leads.

ASIO opened its doors to the media today as Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched the new Counter-Terrorism Control Centre (CTCC) in Canberra.

"In this dangerous time we ask you to bring your best efforts, your best ingenuity to protecting Australians," she said.

In a rare public speech, ASIO director-general David Irvine said the terrorism threat is real and it is directed at Australian interests and people.

"ASIO and its partners at this very time are investigating hundreds of counter-terrorism matters," he said.

He says the risk now is just as real as it was in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and the only way terrorist attacks can be thwarted is if government agencies work together and share their information.

"Experience in Australia and elsewhere has proved that governments need carefully integrated and coordinated approaches between the various agencies if they're going to be effective in the struggle against terrorists," he said.

"And as a result, we have constantly to examine our methods, our collaboration with other agencies and the effectiveness of our counter-terrorism arrangements to ensure that the dots are joined, the gaps are filled and to minimise as much as possible the chances of something falling through the cracks."

Mr Irvine highlighted the value of community tip-offs and support from police, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Office of National Assessments and Defence Intelligence.

The thwarted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in the United States in late 2009 is often cited as an example where greater cooperation between intelligences agencies failed to detect a threat.

Ms Gillard says the CTCC is a crucial piece of infrastructure to improve coordination between agencies in Australia.

"Of course, with the multi-agency control of this centre we will be able to set and manage Australia's counter-terrorism priorities, identify intelligence requirements, and ensure that the process of collecting and distributing counter-terrorism information is fully harmonised across all of our counter-terrorism activities," she said.

Professor Clive Williams, from the Centre for Policing Intelligence and Counter-terrorism at Macquarie University, says Australia still faces a risk from terrorism but the nature of the threat has changed.

"It's not the same as it was after 9/11. I don't think there's a threat from Pakistan or Afghanistan in particular, or from Yemen or from the Maghreb or anywhere else," he said.

"The concern really is more home-grown people going overseas, getting some training, coming back and doing something; I think that's the major concern.

"The kind of situation that occurred with Faisal Shahzad in New York City, where he tried to blow up that vehicle in Times Square. That's the sort of thing that is more of a concern nowadays."

Professor Williams says cooperation between government agencies is important, but community support is just as crucial as strong intelligence networks to stop the threat of home-grown terrorism.

"It's difficult really to pick up on these kind of groups unless you get community support. So to some extent the national hotline is a valuable resource, in that sense that it gives people the opportunity to call in if they've got concerns about activity in their neighbourhood and that sort of thing and make it known to the authorities who can then follow it up," he said.

"So, it's very much reliant on the neighbourhood people, community policing and that sort of thing to throw up potential."