“Let me assure you behind the scenes the Australian and international intelligence community is making inroads into the terrorists’ plans,” he said.
“Well over 100 planned attacks have been thwarted.”
But Ruddock said the threat remained.
“When you have between 75-80 per cent of al-Qaeda degraded you still have 20-25 per cent that is capable and in a position to occasion some harm,” he said.
“The threat is diminished but there remains a threat and it is very hard to quantify.”