Susie O’Brien asks how Brighton gunman was able to terrorise community
THE Brighton terror gunman should have never been free to kill a man, hold a woman hostage and terrorise the community, Susie O’Brien writes.
Opinion
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WHY WAS Brighton gunman Yacqub Khayre out on parole, free to kill one man, hold a woman hostage, fire at police and terrorise an entire community?
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is right to pose this question.
Khayre had a long record of violence, was linked to a terrorist plot in the past and has had connections with violent extremism. He also behaved badly in prison last year.
So how on earth did he qualify for parole a year early?
If he had served his entire five-and-a-half-year sentence, he’d have been in jail right now.
But he was let out after just four and a half years.
Clearly, we need stronger parole laws that protect the community rather than the rights of the offender.
How on earth is a man with this history able to be out on Victorian streets?
The system has let us all down.
It’s all very well for Premier Daniel Andrews to praise police, but they should not have been put in this position in the first place.
Andrews says Khayre had served significant jail time, but it obviously wasn’t enough. The fact that he was charged with arson while serving time should have suggested parole wasn’t appropriate.
The fact that Khayre had technically met his parole conditions by meeting drug tests and attending appointments didn’t stop him from killing again in cold blood not long after his release.
Let’s not forget that Khayre had a long history of violent crime fuelled by his drug addiction.
Each time he served a sentence then was freed to do it all again.
We know Khayre was charged and later acquitted of over a terror plot to launch a suicide attack against Sydney’s Holsworthy army barracks in 2009.
He was also jailed for three years for a violent home invasion, during which he carried out “gratuitous violence’’ on a young woman before punching and headbutting her father. This was just two years after the Holsworthy attempted attack.
MARGARET COURT HAS REVEALED HER TRUE COLOURS
He has also been found guilty of firearms offences, attempted armed robbery, unlawful assault and even a stabbing on a train over a mobile phone.
The latter was committed while he was on bail.
So why was he granted parole last November one year early?
Police commissioner Graham Ashton confirmed Khayre hadn’t been someone of concern to authorities in relation to terrorism matters prior to yesterday.
The questions is: why not?
There are more than 70 ongoing counter-terrorism operations in this country, and around 200 people under active surveillance, not to mention hundreds more in each state under review.
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So didn’t Khayre’s terrorist links and history of violence raise more red flags?
No doubt questions are also being raised about the fact that Khayre came here as a child refugee from Somalia.
Just wait for senator Pauline Hanson to renew her calls for a ban on all Islamic immigration.
US president Donald Trump also jumped on the anti-Islam bandwagon, tweeting at the weekend that he would renew his efforts to reinstate his travel ban on people from six Muslim-dominated countries.
We should accept the link between Islam and terrorism: it’s widely acknowledged that many terrorists have adopted an extreme version of Sunni Islam. However, we need to ensure we don’t go too far and demonise all adherents of the Muslim faith, and all Islamic refugees.
Rather than following Hanson’s divisive dog-whistle politicking, we should listen to ASIO boss Duncan Lewis who said recently there was “absolutely no evidence to suggest there is a connection between refugees and terrorism”.
“We have had tens of thousands of refugees come to Australia over the last decade or so and a very few of them have become subjects of interest for ASIO and have been involved in terrorist planning,” he told ABC radio.
That's right, we need a TRAVEL BAN for certain DANGEROUS countries, not some politically correct term that won't help us protect our people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe. The courts are slow and political!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2017
While Lewis admitted some terrorists have been refugees or the son or daughter of refugees, (such as Khayre), he said the reason they’re terrorists is not linked to them being refugees.
Lewis said refugees were not statistically more likely to be involved in terrorism and emphasised the importance of close relations between law enforcement authorities and the Muslim community. I’ll take his advice over Pauline Hanson any day.
In the meantime, what’s the Premier going to do about the parole system? That’s the question people want answered today.
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