CANBERRA, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Plans to erect temporary anti-terror safety measures in Melbourne have been brought forward in response to recent attacks, the Victorian Government announced on Sunday.
Concrete bollards were installed across Melbourne's Central Business District (CBD) on Sunday after Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews ordered the process be accelerated after the London Bridge attack.
More than 7.5 million U.S. dollars was spent putting the bollards in as well as improving closed circuit television across the city.
The first barricades were installed at Federation Square and Bourke Street after a secret government report identified them as the two most likely targets of a car attack.
Other locations that the government identified as high risk are being kept secret so as to not give potential terrorists any further information.
Andrews said the cement road-blocks were just a temporary fix and they would be replaced by permanent safety measures within six months.
"Constructing permanent bollards will take some time, (so)...I have directed that temporary bollards will be put at place at Federation Square and Bourke Street and a number of other sites," Andrews told reporters on Sunday.
"We weren't going to wait around for six months or twelve months while planter boxes are built so they look better.
"There's no time to be wasted here. The threat of terror -- the threat of hostile vehicle attacks, the threats to public safety -- are all too real."
He said that improved security measures at other city landmarks such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), which attracts tens of thousands of visitors every week, would be reviewed.
"Part of the comprehensive work that's been done following (attacks on) Bourke Street and Nice, did not include recommendations to do additional things at the MCG, there's already quite a few bollards in place," he said.
"Some of them are not necessarily noticeable, because they're of a permanent nature...the point is if more needs to be done of course we stand ready to do that."
One man was killed in Melbourne on Monday when Yacqub Khayre shot him at close range before taking another woman hostage in actions that have been described by police as inspired by Islamist terrorism.
