Far right extremists ‘use ISIS methods to recruit’, says ASIO

Violent right-wing extremists are using the COVID crisis and social media methods pioneered by ­Islamic State to accelerate radicalisation of new followers.

ASIO deputy director-general Heather Cook. Picture: Kym Smith

Violent right-wing extremists are using the COVID crisis and social media methods pioneered by ­Islamic State to accelerate radicalisation of new followers.

ASIO told parliament’s joint intelligence and security committee that far-right extremists now made up 30-40 per cent of the agency’s counter-terrorism caseload, compared with 10-15 per cent four years ago.

ASIO deputy director-general Heather Cook said COVID lockdowns and a surge in internet use were contributing to a spike in ­violent, right-wing extremism.

She said the circumstances around COVID had “contributed to an increase in radicalisation, in particular because of the amount of time that individuals are spending in isolation or working from home, or not in school”.

“The amount of time individuals are spending online … makes it much easier to be finding like-minded individuals,” she said.

“We are also seeing contributing factors in some of the anti-government sentiment being expressed around the world in regard to lockdowns, or some of the protective measures that governments have had to put in place to protect populations against COVID.”

The methods being used by far-right extremists were “not dissimilar with the way ISIL used its propaganda and its ability to use social media to recruit the young and the vulnerable”, she said.

“I think we are seeing a similar phenomenon being used by some in that extreme right-wing milieu to good effect,” she said.

Ms Cook said ASIO focused on potentially violent far-right extremists who were assessed as terrorist threats. She said it was difficult to identify extreme-right wing groups that should be listed as terrorist organisations, as many were just loose coalitions of like-minded individuals.

It was likely that far-right radicals in Australia were “in touch” with proscribed groups overseas.