Australians are living with two realities when it comes to extremism and terrorism in the country. One reality is propagated by government officials to the public, which implies that Australia is a generally safe country with an insignificant threat of extreme violence or a terrorist attack, which is true, but only to some extent. The other reality is reflected in official documents, mostly out of the general public’s eye or reach, such as the recent Australian Federal Police briefing papers on security environment prepared for the Albanese government that warn of an ‘increasingly complex criminal environment’; the ongoing Victorian parliamentary Inquiry into far-right extremism that has so far warned that children as young as 10 years old are being radicalised online; or the March 2022 interim report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) Inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia, which found that ‘threats of extremist movements and radicalisation in Australia are evolving.’
One industry that has always found itself in a predicament is the media. The challenge of how, if at all, to report on extremism and terrorism was the topic of a roundtable on countering violent extremism and the media’s role. It was hosted by CMT last week and sponsored by NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet. Panelists at the roundtable discussed how terrorists and violent extremists use and exploit the media to amplify their messages; shared insight on some of the ways extremists and terrorists use technology to their benefit, including the recruitment of young Australians from overseas, spreading disinformation, misinformation, and mal-information; highlighted impacts of media coverage of extremism on social cohesion; and explored whether journalists and other media professionals agreed on a set of principles on reporting extremism and terrorism.
It was agreed that while Australia may not be at an immediate threat of a terrorist attack for now, there is ample evidence suggesting that far-right extremism, or ideologically motivated extremism as it is now officially referred to, is on the rise across the country. And it’s spreading, mostly unperturbed by law enforcement attention, as reflected by a surreptitious spread of neo-Nazi groups in some parts of the country; ‘Islamists not welcome’ posters recently found pasted on Wollongong’s Omar Mosque, days after police found ‘white supremacy, neo-Nazi’ flyers at several points around the University of Wollongong campus; and white supremacist posters, containing explicitly racist speech and far-right symbolism, found on campus at the University of Sydney in late May 2022.
Increasing far-right extremism and radicalisation of young Australians is a real threat to Australia’s national security. Amidst growing concerns, it is disappointing that the PJCIS could not complete its inquiry report during the 46th Parliament.
Ayesha Jehangir, CMT Postdoctoral Fellow
This was featured in our eNewsletter of 5 August, read it in full here. To subscribe to have it direct to your inbox fortnightly, sign up here.