Extremists are using coronavirus pandemic stress to recruit online, says AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw warns extremists are using the ‘isolation, loneliness and financial stress’ exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic to recruit.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

Extremists are using the “isolation, loneliness and financial stress” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to recruit online, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has warned, with two major disruptions into potential domestic terrorist attacks since December.

He also said child exploitation online was getting worse, with acts of child sex abuse being shown on websites every four minutes.

In his first solo address to the National Press Club in his nine-month tenure as Australia’s top cop, Mr Kershaw acknowledged the coronavirus crisis had not decreased the terror threat, which remained “probable”.

“There has not appeared to be a decrease in the rhetoric or propaganda from terrorist groups. Their intent remains the same — to inflict violence. In one sense, they are using the pandemic to help them recruit,” he said.

“Extremists are seeking to take advantage of isolation, loneliness and financial stress to boost their numbers. We expect an increase in online activity is likely to help extremists recruit those who may be more susceptible to online radicalisation. Targeting this crime type is a priority.”

Since the national terrorism threat level was raised in September 2014, there have been seven attacks in Australia and 18 major counter-terrorism operations responding to “potential or imminent attacks”.

Two of those operations have been since December, Mr Kershaw said, conceding the AFP’s “operational tempo has remained high during the pandemic”.

In March, two men — allegedly with extreme right-wing views who had expressed support for last year’s Christchurch terrorist attack — were stopped from attempting to acquire military equipment.

It was alleged they were involved in early-stage preparations for a terrorist attack.

Another man was charged with acts in preparation for a terrorist act after the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team became aware of his extremist social media material and he downloaded a document on basic weapons and tactics.

Some 110 people had been charged as a result of 51 counter-terrorism-related operations in the past six years, Mr Kershaw said.

After threatening in February to name and shame tech giants that blocked authorities from identifying criminals on the dark web who committed horrendous crimes, including child rape and torture, he said Australian parents needed to upskill to learn what their kids did on the internet.

The AFP’s Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation received 11,325 cases in the first six months of the year but he said the number of dark web cases was “probably 10 times that amount”.

The ACCCE identified 4.5 million images and videos downloaded on the dark web in April and 6.2 million files last month.

The Internet Watch Foundation assessed a website every two minutes in 2019 and in every four minutes that web page showed a child sexually abused.

“Between July 2019 to May 2020, the AFP laid 1078 commonwealth child exploitation charges against 144 people. It compares to 74 summons and arrests and 372 charges laid in the previous financial year,” Mr Kershaw said.

“This crime type is getting worse. The average number of images seized when an offender is arrested is increasing. In the early to mid-2000s, a child sex predator had about 1000 images; now it’s between 10,000 to 80,000 images and videos.”

“And in some countries it costs less than a packet of cigarettes to order pay-per-view, pay-to-direct child rape and exploitation. And the number of Australians undertaking this abhorrent crime has increased during COVID-19. There are more people at home on their computers and more desperate people across the world.”

The Australian revealed in April that online child sex abuse had more than doubled since the coronavirus outbreak began in February, which prompted the government to launch a national campaign warning parents to strictly monitor child activities at home during school closures.