Police fear terrorism’s new breeding ground in regional Australia

Police are combating an alarming rise in “ideological” right-wing terrorism throughout regional Australia.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton, left, Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson and Commissioner Mick Fuller. Picture: Jane Dempster

Police are combating an alarming rise in “ideological” right-wing terrorism throughout regional Australia, fuelled by internet extremism and the intense social isolation caused by successive COVID-enforced lockdowns.

The Australian can reveal the number of people arrested by NSW’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team has more than doubled since the onset of the health crisis, with 28 people taken into custody in 2020, up from 11 in 2019 and 12 the previous year

While “religious” extremism continues to present the most pressing risk to homeland security, and makes up three-quarters of those arrested,” “ideo­logical” extremism now accounts for the other 25 per cent.

The state’s counter-terrorism authorities said the fanatical far-right groups were largely confined to regional areas but there were concerns “clusters” had recently begun to appear throughout metropolitan Sydney.

Those taken into custody include an 18-year-old from regional NSW, who was allegedly using social media to encourage others to commit mass-casualty terrorist acts and “escalating” online threats. He was also allegedly using the internet to research bomb-making.

Following the teenager’s arrest at his Albury home in December, police alleged he harboured an extreme right-wing ideology and was focused on “neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-Semitic material”.

Senior officials said they made the decision to swoop on his home — in a joint operation between the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police — after he allegedly expressed interest online in taking part in a “mass- casualty event”.

NSW’s Investigations and Counter Terrorism chief, Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson, said the web had played an unenviable role in disseminating dangerous and radical beliefs over past year with recurring lockdowns creating a captive audience for online hatemongers.

“The threat is real and it’s ever-present,” he said. “We’ve witnessed a considerable increase in online activity throughout the past year, particularly where people have been housebound and restricted in their movements.

“It’s true that Islamic terrorism is still the greatest threat to us but it’s not the only threat.

“We’ve seen an emergence of other groups, in particular those generally referred to as extreme right-wing groups. More broadly, we’ve also seen some left-wing groups and anarchist groups that have a desire to inflict pain on our communities.”

Mr Hudson said the state’s counter-terrorism team had implemented several core programs and strategies designed to thwart any repeat of a Lindt Cafe-style event in NSW in which gunman Man Haron Monis murdered two hostages in December 2014 before being shot and killed when police stormed the building in Sydney’s Martin Place at the culmination of the 17-hour siege.

Mr Hudson said the team was equally dedicated to stamping out both religious and ideological terror threats.

“The Fixated Persons Investigations Unit has been incredibly successful since it was established by the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller, in 2017, with detectives focusing on those people who might not have reached terrorism threshold but that we can’t afford to let fall through the cracks – and it means that once someone comes to our attention, we never take our eyes off them,” he said.

“Since Commissioner Fuller was appointed, we’ve also adopted a policy where we will take out suspected terrorists at the first opportunity before it can escalate to an uncontrollable situation.”

Mr Hudson’s comments come after ASIO director-general Mike Burgess this month warned that he anticipated the country would experience a domestic terrorism attack within the next year.

NSW’s Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics commander, Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton, said the state’s elite units were continually war-gaming a terror attack response.

“We don’t just expect to switch on if we have a (terrorist) event,” he said.

“Every month, the Commissioner and his team are tested in scenarios in relation to how we would respond to different critical scenarios to ensure we are at the top of our game.

“It’s a mentality we take into everything we do, whether it’s on the street or online.

Mr Walton blamed the internet for exacerbating the problem and creating a “mishmash” of hateful doctrines that appealed to disaffected and isolated members of society.

“I refer to the internet as a petri dish of hate because it allows people to connect and multiply their extremist hate, and hateful views, and advocacy of violence across any state or international border.

“Twenty years ago, when the Counter Terrorism Command was set up, we barely knew what email was but as the online world and social media has evolved so have we. If people want to take those hateful views into the real world, we have to know about it.” Mr Fuller, who has ultimate oversight of all operations in NSW, said that he was determined to combat the ongoing threat no matter the cost.

“The Australian terrorism threat level remains at ‘probable’,” he said.

“We know violent extremism comes in many forms and motivations, and ensuring the NSW Police Force has the people, resources and powers to counter it remains my priority.

“We have 500 highly trained police and support staff in the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command, who are at the forefront of detecting, intervening, and preventing these types of violent acts.

“It is – and always will be – our goal to prevent terrorism at all costs.”