Deradicalising vulnerable youth must be a priority

Dual national terrorists should lose Australian citizenship

The proposal for dual national terrorists to be automatically stripped of their Australian citizenship, without ministerial discretion, is a reasonable compromise to settle the Abbott government’s internal divisions over the issue. Drawing on existing powers to cancel citizenship should minimise the likelihood of High Court challenges that probably would have arisen had the power to revoke citizenship been vested in a federal minister. The strenuous objections of the lawyers in federal cabinet — including Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and Kevin Andrews, as well as Barnaby Joyce — to the original proposal were useful in steering the government to a better outcome. But Tony Abbott and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton should not have let the issue drag on unresolved for weeks, arousing suspicions the government was grandstanding for political effect.

While it has focused intensely on how to deal with more than 110 Australians fighting for Islamic State in the Middle East, it has paid too little attention to the challenge of deradicalising potential homegrown jihadists, when the only terrorists who have killed and injured people in this country were radicalised here, including online. Whatever possible must be done to prevent others emulating Lindt cafe gunman Man Haron Monis or Numan Haider, the teenager shot dead after he stabbed two police officers in Melbourne last year. Haider had been part of a radical group in the city’s southeast. Only a fraction of the anti-terrorism budget is allocated to programs to steer vulnerable young people away from such groups.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan says investment in programs to counter extremism, including online propaganda, has been tripled to $10 million a year. And almost $2m out of a separate allocation of $13.4m has been awarded to 40 community groups to allow early intervention to steer individuals away from ideologies of hate. The challenge is to ensure the money is well spent and targeted.

In April, our Australian of the Year, Sydney GP Jamal Rifi, warned that two teenage boys stopped at Sydney airport in March on suspicion of wanting to travel to Syria had not been counselled afterwards. Other community leaders have voiced concerns over the slow rollout of deradicalisation programs. The success of such initiatives often depends on the dedication and local knowledge of the staff. The Bankstown Multicultural Youth Service in Sydney, for example, has a track record steering vulnerable men and women away from the orbit of radical Islamist groups. Group manager Mary Malak told The Australian recently that those who were most vulnerable of being preyed on were young Muslims or Christians who were disengaged from their families and communities, who had fallen on hard times and spent a lot of time in parks and on the street.

Stripping dual national terrorists of citizenship is important in preventing jihadists from committing atrocities. But more attention must be paid to stopping the recruitment of jihadists online and in vulnerable communities.