Political discourse hijacked by ideology

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The new terror threat facing Australia and other Western nations isn’t being directed from mountain hideouts in Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria.

It’s being driven by the torrent of grievance and self-righteousness that now passes for political debate.

As ASIO boss Mike Burgess has warned, intolerance is soaring and vulnerable young minds are being infected by a collection of radical ideologies and conspiracy theories, amplified by social media. “As polarisation, frustration and perceived injustices grow, ASIO anticipates an increase in politically motivated violence, including terrorism,” he says.

In some cases, ideologies are merging and distorting, with neo-Nazis finding common cause with pro-Palestinian activists based on a shared hatred of Israel, and at least one former Antifa figure on ASIO’s radar switching sides to join a far-right group.

On ASIO’s advice, the government has lifted the terrorism threat level to “probable”, and called for a more civil debate to strengthen social cohesion.

Anthony Albanese has rightly singled out the Greens, who have claimed Labor is encouraging “genocide” in Gaza, as being part of the problem. “Words matter,” he said, taking aim at the party’s support for long-running protests outside Labor MPs’ offices.

It’s true, the Greens have shamelessly used the war in Gaza to harness the grievances of its supporters for its own political ends. But they’re not the only ones. Many Labor MPs, including some senior ministers, should reflect on their words.

Cabinet minister Ed Husic, for example, used an interview with The Sunday Telegraph to declare Australia should consider sanctions on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How is that sort of policy freelancing helping to take the temperature down?

Likewise Penny Wong, who failed to use her words last week to ease community tensions when she released the Binskin report on the Israeli drone strikes that killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom.

The report made it clear that the presence of gunmen in the World Central Kitchen aid convoy “gave the appearance of the presence of Hamas”. Indeed, Air Chief Marshal Binskin found there were failures by the Israeli Defence Forces that led to the convoy being targeted, but the strike was “not knowingly or deliberately directed against the World Central Kitchen”.

But the Foreign Minister maintained in her Friday press conference that the strikes were “inexcusable” and “intentional”.

The government is now considering whether to allow 2000 Palestinians who fled the war in Gaza to stay permanently in Australia. There’s no doubt these people have suffered, and have little to return home to. But the government can’t ignore the fact many will have sympathetic views towards Hamas, and will be hostile to Jewish Australians.

All political parties need to do their part to keep Australians safe.