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Perth Arena would be a prime target for a terrorist attack on the city, counter terrorism expert and federal MP Anne Aly has said, as Premier Mark McGowan promised a security upgrade at the venue in the wake of the deadly Manchester bombing attack.
Dr Aly said she had been "taken aback" by the way Perth Arena managed people leaving the venue after events.
"Thousands of people are streamed through a single point and congregate at one point, all moving in a single direction," she said.
"There is no security and there is no management of people.
"This is exactly the kind of opportunity that somebody would seek to do us damage would look for, people congregating en masse where there is no security and no management of foot traffic going through ."
Premier Mark McGowan said staff at Perth Arena had been asked to be more vigilant, following the attack which killed 22 people at a pop concert in England's north west.
"What we don't want to see is copycat events occur in WA so we are making sure there is that additional vigilance and extra security for events at Perth Arena in the coming weeks," Mr McGowan told ABC Perth.
Several events are due to be held at Perth Arena over the next fortnight, including a concert, a netball game and a Disney on Ice performance.
VenuesWest chief executive David Etherton said security staff would be wearing high-vis vests at future events at the arena so they were more visible to the public.
"We have exceptionally safe venues in Western Australia and we have a great record," he told ABC Radio Perth.
"We have great people running the venues and people will be safe when they come to events."
Twenty-two people were killed and 59 others injured when a suicide bomber struck while people were leaving an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena.
Mr McGowan said the event reinforced the need for intelligence services to be vigilant but said the risk of a similar event in WA was lower than it was in other parts of Australia.
"The advice I have been receiving is that WA has a very much lower level of threat than, for instance, Sydney or Melbourne," the Premier said.
"Now we need to remain vigilant, we need to remain careful but I think we do have a far more harmonious society in Western Australia than perhaps in the eastern states."
Dr Aly said there were three main reasons terrorists might choose a particular target — for the symbolic value, for easy access and to kill the most number of people.
"If we can understand that we can start looking at what venues and what places we might have they might be vulnerable to an attack," Dr Aly said.
Topics: terrorism, defence-and-national-security, arts-and-entertainment, perth-6000
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