Leaders patronising the public with untruths

Duncan Lewis, the Director-General of ASIO, as doubled down on his comments that there is not a link between the country’s refugee program and terrorism. Picture: Kym Smith

ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis joins a long queue of public officials misleading the public in condescending attempts to protect national harmony. The media-political class sees mainstream Australians as ignorant and xenophobic, so rations the truth in patronising attempts to preserve social cohesion.

This sanctimonious and deceptive approach undermines public faith in our institutions and their leaders.

Appearing before a parliamentary committee last week, Mr Lewis said something that is demonstrably untrue. “I have absolutely no evidence to suggest there’s a connection between refugees and terrorism,” he said.

The trouble is that the public is well aware of the evidence. We have had three fatal terrorist incidents over the past three years and it is a matter of public record that each of the terrorists (all were killed) were in the country because of our refugee program. Lindt cafe gunman Man Haron Monis arrived on a business visa from Iran and claimed asylum while here; Melbourne teenager Numan Haider came to Australia from Afghanistan with his refugee parents; and teenage Parramatta assassin Farhad Jabar arrived with his Iranian refugee parents.

That, director-general, is a direct connection between terrorism and refugees — as direct as a hand on a gun.

The connection runs much deeper, of course, with the majority of those convicted of terror offences, and many of those who have travelled to the Middle East as jihadists for Islamic State, being Australian-born to parents who arrived here as refugees in the late 1970s. This is a connection; a clear, undeniable reality that the ASIO boss and our politicians need to be able to discuss.

After being called out on his statement, Mr Lewis initially chose silence but this morning took to the friendly space of Radio National to try to explain himself. “There are without question — and I don’t resile from that — there are members of the former refugee or the sons and daughters of refugees who are in the group that have resorted to radicalisation,” he said, in a concession to the bleeding obvious.

“But I think it is very wrong to say that it is because of their refugee status,” he went on, arguing with a point that as far as I am aware no one has made. Certainly no sane person would make such a claim — that terrorists are radicalised because they are refugees — but this somehow is the clarification the ASIO chief has decided to make rather than simply admit his error and be frank with the public.

This all fits into a terrible pattern. As I have pointed out time and time again, our political leaders from all major parties constantly tie themselves in knots to avoid identifying Islamist extremism as the terrorist threat. Even our police, as we have seen at Parramatta and Martin Place, are stubbornly reluctant to see, hear or speak the evil of Islamist terrorism. And now we see our intelligence agencies making themselves look foolish playing the same game.

They are all well-intentioned — let’s give them that — but they drastically underestimate the intelligence and benevolence of mainstream Australians. Their political correctness, as ever, is driven by a sneering disdain for the public.

They fear that honesty will alienate Muslim Australians and create antagonism from their non-Muslim compatriots. This is an insult to all Australians and something that is simply not borne out by our experience over a series of traumatic incidents, from the 9/11 and the Bali bombings to Martin Place and Parramatta.

Muslim Australians know precisely what the threat is; they know that Islamist extremists kill them and others, and make their daily lives far less comfortable than they ought to be. And non-Muslim Australians know that the vast majority of their Muslim compatriots love this country and the peaceful existence it affords them.

Neither group expects to be fed nonsense by our political leaders and their institutional chiefs. Rather, they expect honest and frank discussions about this challenge that must be met cooperatively.

Let us be frank, without widespread community support and engagement, countering terrorism would become an impossible task. Build all the bollards you like, it is only information, awareness and influence within our communities that can actually weed out extremism and alert us to radicalisation.

Politicians and agency chiefs need to level with the public in an intelligent way. Don’t patronise them with blatant untruths.

Mr Lewis just needed to say something forthright and honest last week, such as; “Yes, refugees and the children of refugees have perpetrated terrorist violence, not just here but in many European countries. This is difficult for us to comprehend because these people have been given freedom and a new beginning. But it demonstrates the pernicious influence of this radical Islamist ideology — usually even their parents are unaware and appalled by their radicalisation. We screen our refugee intake very carefully to ensure we do not import extremists but what we are seeing is that even refugees or their children can become radicalised on our shores.”

Australians, Muslim and non-Muslim, cannot only handle the truth, they deserve it and, regardless, will see it through the smokescreens.