Internet ‘turbocharging’ extremism and conspiracy theories: home affairs minister

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says intelligence agencies are investigating the national security implications of the Queensland shootout that led to the death of six people, including the role online radicalisation may have played in sparking the tragedy.

O’Neil said conspiracy theories, disinformation and misinformation were being “turbocharged” by the internet, presenting a new kind of national security threat for law enforcement agencies and policymakers.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said new policy responses may be needed to tackle online extremism. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

New policy responses, including legislation, may be needed to help prevent people with extremist views from turning to violence, O’Neil said.

While Queensland Police are still investigating the case, O’Neil said online radicalisation was likely to form part of the explanation for why police officers were fired upon when they approached a property at Wieambilla, near Brisbane.

Online accounts sharing the name of one member of the now deceased trio inside the home, 47-year-old Gareth Train, had been active on conspiracy websites for years and suggested an interest in the topics for decades.

The account had posted about entwined theories spanning vaccines, the Port Arthur massacre being staged to take away the nation’s guns and broader anti-authority beliefs, and bragged about previously telling “coward” police to leave his property.

O’Neil told parliament on Thursday that “security agencies are actively considering the implications of this matter for the national security of our country, the implications of online radicalisation of misinformation and violent extremism”.

“There is a lot of media reporting and speculation about what has motivated these three people to perform the despicable acts of violence that they did.”

Warning that the initial information after such an event can often be wrong, O’Neil said: “Before we get into the discussion about what’s happened, it’s really important that we let law enforcement and national security agencies do their job.

“Once the picture does start to clarify, it is likely that radicalisation will form a part of it.”

As Home Affairs Minister, O’Neil has oversight of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and is responsible for cybersecurity.

“Radicalisation is not new, but it is absolutely clear from events here and around the world that conspiracy theories, disinformation and misinformation problems as old as time are being turbocharged by technology into terrible acts of violence,” she said.

“They’re presenting a new kind of threat to national security. There will be deep and very important policy questions for us here as a parliament to think about how our country prevents and deals with acts of violence.

“But today is not the day for those discussions. Today is a day for grieving.”

O’Neil last week announced the Home Affairs Department’s national resilience taskforce would examine ways to strengthen Australian democracy and combat misinformation and disinformation.

She said that “we need to explore what we can do with tech companies to reduce the spread of polarisation and falsehoods, which have become such an important part of our lives”.

On Thursday morning, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who was home affairs minister in the Morrison government, agreed conspiracy-theory activity of those who began the Queensland shootout should be a concern for law enforcement in Australia.

“We’ve seen in recent years the spread of disinformation on the internet and the way in which that infects people’s minds and changes their whole persona, their whole perspective, and causes them to commit or contributes at least to them committing extreme acts. [That] should be of concern to any right-thinking Australian,” he told reporters in Canberra.

Dutton said the opposition would support the government introducing any measures to make it easier for law enforcement to access encrypted apps, where a lot of discussion surrounding conspiracy theories takes place.

“If a court issues a warrant that information should be discoverable by police,” he said.

“It’s just a technology issue and we’re allowing these people to manifest their crazy ideas online.”

Dutton had to pause several times during an emotional tribute in parliament to the police officers and civilian who were killed in Monday’s deadly shooting west of Brisbane.

“The depravity of this incident is what has struck hardest,” he said. “In this instance, what has hit hardest is the execution style [of the shootings] and the complete disregard for the human beings.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday “should have been an ordinary day” for the officers, “a day of warmth, a day of peace”.

“Instead that day of quiet was shattered by the gunfire of an atrocity,” he said.

Albanese also paid tribute to Queensland resident Alan Dare, who was gunned down after coming to check on his neighbours following the first shots ringing out.

He described Dare as an “innocent Australian who paid for his kindness and concern with his life”.

Labor MP Peter Khalil, the chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, yesterday said it was important to disrupt the “pipeline towards extremism” at its source.

“Not just at the pointy end of the spear where violent attacks are imminent,” Khalil said.

“Increasing polarisation, online echo chambers and the intersection of ideological, transnational and socioeconomic factors have cultivated a febrile atmosphere for radicalisation that is challenging for security agencies and law enforcement.”

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