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| Australia Seeks Lower Age Threshold for Antiterror Controls | Australia Seeks Lower Age Threshold for Antiterror Controls |
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| HONG KONG — Australia’s government has proposed making people as young as 14 subject to so-called control orders, an antiterrorism measure under which a court can impose restrictions on a person’s movements or communications. | HONG KONG — Australia’s government has proposed making people as young as 14 subject to so-called control orders, an antiterrorism measure under which a court can impose restrictions on a person’s movements or communications. |
| The proposal, announced Monday evening by the attorney general, George Brandis, came less than two weeks after a 15-year-old boy shot and killed a police accountant, Curtis Cheng, in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta, an attack that the police are investigating as an act of terrorism. The boy, Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad, was killed when police officers returned fire. | The proposal, announced Monday evening by the attorney general, George Brandis, came less than two weeks after a 15-year-old boy shot and killed a police accountant, Curtis Cheng, in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta, an attack that the police are investigating as an act of terrorism. The boy, Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad, was killed when police officers returned fire. |
| Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said revisions to Australia’s national security laws that include the new age threshold for control orders were underway before the shooting on Oct. 2. Mr. Brandis said on Tuesday, however, that the Parramatta episode showed the need for lowering the age limit to 14, from the current 16. | Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said revisions to Australia’s national security laws that include the new age threshold for control orders were underway before the shooting on Oct. 2. Mr. Brandis said on Tuesday, however, that the Parramatta episode showed the need for lowering the age limit to 14, from the current 16. |
| “I think what we saw with the event that occurred in Parramatta the Friday before last with a 15-year-old boy who had been inspired to perform a horrendous terrorist act, an act of murder, demonstrates that, unfortunately, the reach of ISIL and ISIL surrogates and agents in Australia is extending to younger and younger people,” Mr. Brandis said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. | |
| Mr. Brandis said the measure would be introduced to Parliament in the coming weeks. | Mr. Brandis said the measure would be introduced to Parliament in the coming weeks. |
| ISIL is another name for the Islamic State, the extremist group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria. The Australian authorities have expressed concern that Mr. Mohammad had been in touch with extremists before the shooting, but they have not said that he was contacted by the Islamic State. | ISIL is another name for the Islamic State, the extremist group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria. The Australian authorities have expressed concern that Mr. Mohammad had been in touch with extremists before the shooting, but they have not said that he was contacted by the Islamic State. |
| Civil society groups questioned the need to expand the reach of control orders, which were introduced in 2005. “Our view is that it’s a knee-jerk change,” said Greg Barns, a spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance. “It won’t deter any person of any age from associating with terrorist elements or committing terrorist acts. Particularly with younger people, it’s more likely to radicalize them and radicalize their peers.” | Civil society groups questioned the need to expand the reach of control orders, which were introduced in 2005. “Our view is that it’s a knee-jerk change,” said Greg Barns, a spokesman for the Australian Lawyers Alliance. “It won’t deter any person of any age from associating with terrorist elements or committing terrorist acts. Particularly with younger people, it’s more likely to radicalize them and radicalize their peers.” |
| Control orders can prohibit a person from leaving Australia or being in certain places, block them from communicating with specified people, bar their use of technology including the Internet and require that a subject use a monitoring device or report regularly to the authorities. A court can issue the orders against people convicted of terrorist offenses, people who have trained with terrorist groups or anyone else, if such restrictions are deemed to be useful in preventing a terrorist act. | Control orders can prohibit a person from leaving Australia or being in certain places, block them from communicating with specified people, bar their use of technology including the Internet and require that a subject use a monitoring device or report regularly to the authorities. A court can issue the orders against people convicted of terrorist offenses, people who have trained with terrorist groups or anyone else, if such restrictions are deemed to be useful in preventing a terrorist act. |