The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has been authorized to take over security of the Parliament House in Canberra amid threats of terrorist attacks by suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters in Australia.

The move follows intelligence that that the Parliament House is a potential target, Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed with local media outlets on Friday.

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Intelligence agencies, he said, have detected conversations among suspected terrorists that sought to target "government people," prompting tighter security measures to be imposed at the Parliament. Abbot added that the federal police will be reinstituted as the main security force inside and outside the Parliament, according to Nine Report.

Abbott said the new security arrangements will be implented "immediately."

The prime minister's order comes months after the House security was downgraded.

Under the new system, visiting political figures and their staff are not subjected to security screening. Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan protested the policy and demonstrated how easily the relaxed securities could be exploited by smuggling a bomb replica inside the Parliament.

The Parliament House accommodates about 5,000 people when the Parliament sits in session and is also among Canberra's main tourist attractions.

On Thursday, one of the suspects arrested during the recent major counter-terrorism operation in Sydney and Brisbane was charged in court for plotting a terrorism act involving the public beheading of random Australians.

Omarjan Azari, 22, was accused of plotting with Mohammad Ali Baryalei, a known ISIL fighter responsible for recruiting and sending Australian fighters to wage jihad in Iraq and Syria.

Baryalei reportedly ordered Azari to film demonstration killings in a manner similar with the Islamic State beheading videos released in recent weeks, and upload the footages online.

Fourteen others were arrested after 800 federal police officers were mobilized in Australia's largest anti-terror operation.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Prime Minister Abbott reassured the Australian public that while the entire country is at risk, Australia's security forces are capable of responding to terror threats as demonstrated by the recent anti-terror operation that had foiled the beheading plot. 

TagsISIL, ISIS, Australia ISIS