Australia struggling to cope as more residents leave to join IS

The Australian Federal Police have admitted they are struggling to deal with the exodus of young Australians leaving the country to fight for the Islamic State (IS) terror organisation.

At least three more Australians have been able to leave the country to join the IS movement in recent days despite increased surveillance from immigration authorities.

Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism chief Neil Gaughan told a parliamentary committee late on Thursday that Australians have managed to leave the country in the last few days to head to the Middle East.

The security breach comes just days ahead of the G20 summit of world leaders in Brisbane and despite the deployment of specialised Counter-Terrorism Units at all Australian international airports.

Assistant Commissioner Gaughan said: "There are some people who travelled a few days ago that were not on anyone's radar.

"We got wind of it after the fact, but the fact is there are still people travelling."

Gaughan told the committee, which is looking at the increased powers for law enforcement agencies proposed under the Foreign Fighters bill, that his officers currently lacked the power to stop the people who support those who are trying to join Islamic State groups.

He argued that intelligence and law enforcement agencies should be given greater freedom to request control orders, which impose restrictions on a subject's movement, interactions and communication.

He said the increased powers were needed to combat the threat posed by radicalisation at home and abroad.

"The current environment has totally changed since the Syria and Iraq activity," he told the joint committee into intelligence matters late on Thursday.

"The declaration of the caliphate, ISIS prominence in the region, the continuation of people travelling to what's happening over there, but more importantly, what we're seeing domestically, not just here but in other countries, has seen a total change in the operating environment by intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

"We see control orders as being more necessary than ever for the dangers we're facing and we see that threat being long term."

Gaughan said increasing the number of control orders in Australia would "cut off the supply chain" by catching the supporters and enablers of terrorists and terrorist organisations.

"The enablers or the supporters are key to this," he continued. "If we can stop the enablers or supporters or put control orders on them, we can eventually stop people from travelling, besides the blunt tool of a passport cancellation, which enables us to go to the root of the problem."

The foreign fighters bill is just one of a suite of counter- terrorism measures introduced by the federal government. Enditem