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| Focusing on Yacqub Khayre’s parole may look ‘tough on crime’ but it misses the point | Focusing on Yacqub Khayre’s parole may look ‘tough on crime’ but it misses the point |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The key question being asked by the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and many others since Yacqub Khayre killed a hotel attendant and shot three police officers during a siege in Melbourne on Monday is: how was a man with such an extensive history of violence and with links to extremism out on parole? | The key question being asked by the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and many others since Yacqub Khayre killed a hotel attendant and shot three police officers during a siege in Melbourne on Monday is: how was a man with such an extensive history of violence and with links to extremism out on parole? |
| As Turnbull prepares to ask this again at a meeting with state leaders on Friday, there are calls to eliminate parole for terror-related incidents and perhaps even violent offences generally, meaning offenders would serve their full prison term before being released into society. | As Turnbull prepares to ask this again at a meeting with state leaders on Friday, there are calls to eliminate parole for terror-related incidents and perhaps even violent offences generally, meaning offenders would serve their full prison term before being released into society. |
| But arguably this is the wrong question, rather a chance for state and federal levels of government to blame each other and a diversion from the deeper questions being raised by Khayre’s act of terrorism. | But arguably this is the wrong question, rather a chance for state and federal levels of government to blame each other and a diversion from the deeper questions being raised by Khayre’s act of terrorism. |
| Experts on the justice system and the radicalisation of terrorists warn against a knee-jerk overhaul of the parole system. Removing parole risks protecting criminals such as Khayre from the oversight by the corrections and justice systems. The more critical questions, they say, are not why Khayre was on parole after serving a term for non terror-related but violent crimes, but why wasn’t the risk of him as a potential terrorist picked up? Why did the federal police and Asio lose interest in him after he was acquitted of a terrorism plot in 2009? While he was being monitored by Victorian police, why was there apparently noinformation sharing between them and federal authorities? | |
| Comparisons have been made between Khayre and Adrian Bayley, who raped and murdered Jill Meagher, also in Victoria in 2012 while he was on parole. A comprehensive review of the state’s parole system was led by the retired high court judge Ian Callinan, who found it was “not easy to understand” why Bayley was out of jail. | |
| But unlike Khayre, Bayley breached his parole conditions after his release, breaking the jaw of a man in Geelong. While on bail after lodging an appeal to that crime, he raped again. He should have been returned to jail, but wasn’t. | But unlike Khayre, Bayley breached his parole conditions after his release, breaking the jaw of a man in Geelong. While on bail after lodging an appeal to that crime, he raped again. He should have been returned to jail, but wasn’t. |
| Khayre, on the other hand, adhered to his parole, complying with the conditions set, including attending compulsory drug testing and checking in with police. | Khayre, on the other hand, adhered to his parole, complying with the conditions set, including attending compulsory drug testing and checking in with police. |
| His criminal history is long and troubling. The 29-year-old, who came to Australia as a refugee with his family from Somalia when he was three, began his downward spiral as a teenager, according to court documents, when his grandfather died. He dropped out of school, abused drugs, and served two years in the youth justice system from 2007 for more than 40 offences including multiple burglaries and theft, giving a false name and address, possession of amphetamines, car theft and driving offences. Then he spent 16 months in a high-security prison charged with terrorism offences related to a plot to attack Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney in 2009. While serving the sentence he took part in a deradicalisation program and was acquitted of the offences.Upon his release, Khayre’s family distanced themselves from him. | |
| In 2012 Khayre, then aged 24, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years, for a series of offences including aggravated burglary and theft. This parole period was extended due to Khayre’s difficult behaviour in prison. | In 2012 Khayre, then aged 24, was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years, for a series of offences including aggravated burglary and theft. This parole period was extended due to Khayre’s difficult behaviour in prison. |
| Since his release on parole in December, he had not come to the attention of authorities until Monday. Without parole, he would have completed his full sentence just months later and not had any supervision upon his release. | Since his release on parole in December, he had not come to the attention of authorities until Monday. Without parole, he would have completed his full sentence just months later and not had any supervision upon his release. |
| “If violent offenders are released without parole they go out [into society at the end of their sentence] without any supervision, without any monitoring, without any curfews,” the chairman of the Victorian adult parole board who oversaw and approved Khayre’s parole application, Judge Peter Couzens, told radio 3AW in Melbourne. | “If violent offenders are released without parole they go out [into society at the end of their sentence] without any supervision, without any monitoring, without any curfews,” the chairman of the Victorian adult parole board who oversaw and approved Khayre’s parole application, Judge Peter Couzens, told radio 3AW in Melbourne. |
| “[Removing] it would be a recipe for greater calamities than exist under the present system.” | “[Removing] it would be a recipe for greater calamities than exist under the present system.” |
| No federal agency seemed to be watching Khayre’s erratic radicalisation, but Victoria police have reiterated all week that they were aware of his movements and were monitoring him. Fairfax has reported that in 2011 the Australian federal police rejected a recommendation for him to participate in a deradicalisation program despite warnings he was a potential jihadist, isolated from his family and the community. Couzens also told 3AW that no federal or state agency had told the parole board of Khayre being on any terror watchlist and that their only concern was returning some property to him acquired during previous raids. Everything is simpler in hindsight. | No federal agency seemed to be watching Khayre’s erratic radicalisation, but Victoria police have reiterated all week that they were aware of his movements and were monitoring him. Fairfax has reported that in 2011 the Australian federal police rejected a recommendation for him to participate in a deradicalisation program despite warnings he was a potential jihadist, isolated from his family and the community. Couzens also told 3AW that no federal or state agency had told the parole board of Khayre being on any terror watchlist and that their only concern was returning some property to him acquired during previous raids. Everything is simpler in hindsight. |
| Despite the back-and-forth between politicians about whether Khayre was on a “watch list” such a thing does not seem to exist. The attorney general, George Brandis, said on Tuesday night that “there’s no watch list”. | Despite the back-and-forth between politicians about whether Khayre was on a “watch list” such a thing does not seem to exist. The attorney general, George Brandis, said on Tuesday night that “there’s no watch list”. |
| “But there is a list of the current investigations of people of concern to Asio,” he said. “At the moment there are approximately 400 active Asio investigations under way but beyond that there is a periphery of people who may have come to Asio’s attention in past years.” | |
| By the time he served his last sentence he was no longer under Asio watch, so arguing whether access to a list would have changed the board’s decision to release him is a moot point. | By the time he served his last sentence he was no longer under Asio watch, so arguing whether access to a list would have changed the board’s decision to release him is a moot point. |
| He slipped between the cracks. Court documents and previous reports of his involvement in the army terror plot suggest that Khayre had only a sporadic attachment to Islam. Even his links to Isis and al-Qaida are questionable. | He slipped between the cracks. Court documents and previous reports of his involvement in the army terror plot suggest that Khayre had only a sporadic attachment to Islam. Even his links to Isis and al-Qaida are questionable. |
| Had he not called a Channel Seven newsroom and declared allegiances to these organisations during Monday’s siege, questions about parole may not have become the national conversation it has though that conversation would remain important regardless. Isis claimed the attack was one of theirs, but as the Victoria police commissioner, Graham Ashton, pointed out “they always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens”. | |
| The Islamic Council of Victoria said in a statement that the strength of Khayre’s ties to Isis did not change the “horrendous reality”. | The Islamic Council of Victoria said in a statement that the strength of Khayre’s ties to Isis did not change the “horrendous reality”. |
| “Whether this act was inspired by an evil warped ideology or was in fact the actions of a deranged violent individual, this does not change the reality that a horrendous crime was committed in which an innocent person was killed, a woman was held hostage, and police officers’ lives were put at risk,” the statement said. | “Whether this act was inspired by an evil warped ideology or was in fact the actions of a deranged violent individual, this does not change the reality that a horrendous crime was committed in which an innocent person was killed, a woman was held hostage, and police officers’ lives were put at risk,” the statement said. |
| “We would also like to express our support to the Somali community who will be unfairly vilified because of the actions of this one man. They have made, and continue to make, an invaluable contribution to Victorian society.” | “We would also like to express our support to the Somali community who will be unfairly vilified because of the actions of this one man. They have made, and continue to make, an invaluable contribution to Victorian society.” |
| The last point is important because Khayre’s attack came at a time when the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is desperate to be seen as tough on crime, following well-publicised issues in the youth justice system and with an election coming up next year. The state opposition leader, Matthew Guy, has called on Andrews to resign this week over law and order. | The last point is important because Khayre’s attack came at a time when the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, is desperate to be seen as tough on crime, following well-publicised issues in the youth justice system and with an election coming up next year. The state opposition leader, Matthew Guy, has called on Andrews to resign this week over law and order. |
| Andrews has already played his own part in this complicated game. On Thursday he said: “I want Asio, the Australian Federal police not just to be providing advice, but to be directly involved in any decision to grant parole to anybody on that watchlist.” | |
| In Andrews’ words, he was willing to take “the extraordinary step of referring our state’s authority for those on the terror watch-list to the commonwealth government”. | In Andrews’ words, he was willing to take “the extraordinary step of referring our state’s authority for those on the terror watch-list to the commonwealth government”. |
| Much of the state’s media coverage of crime over the past 12 months has focused on race, tying into a national conversation and tensions around refugees and terrorism. For months, the Herald Sun newspaper reported on Melbourne’s so-called “Apex gang”, which the paper described as being comprised of largely African youth. | Much of the state’s media coverage of crime over the past 12 months has focused on race, tying into a national conversation and tensions around refugees and terrorism. For months, the Herald Sun newspaper reported on Melbourne’s so-called “Apex gang”, which the paper described as being comprised of largely African youth. |
| The deputy police commissioner Shane Patton rubbished the reports, saying the problematic youths included a “large cohort” of “Australian-born” members and that other members held “a range of backgrounds an ethnicities”. | The deputy police commissioner Shane Patton rubbished the reports, saying the problematic youths included a “large cohort” of “Australian-born” members and that other members held “a range of backgrounds an ethnicities”. |
| Data released by Fairfax in April showed Sudanese-born offenders committed 4.8% of the aggravated burglaries in the state and that these crimes were increasing, but they are still second to Australian-born offenders, who committed nearly 80% of such crimes. | Data released by Fairfax in April showed Sudanese-born offenders committed 4.8% of the aggravated burglaries in the state and that these crimes were increasing, but they are still second to Australian-born offenders, who committed nearly 80% of such crimes. |
| But with calls from people such as independent Queensland MP Bob Katter for Australia to ban visa requests from the countries in a triangle between Greece, India and North Africa, and Senator Pauline Hanson calling for a ban on Muslim immigration, tensions simmer. | |
| One of Australia’s leading deradicalisation experts, who has conducted peer-reviewed research and interviewed young people with extreme views, told Guardian Australia it was “very easy to get tangled up in questions of ‘was [Khayre] a criminal or a terrorist’,” and tempting for some to “go down the pathway of the uneducated poor Muslim with an immigrant background”. | One of Australia’s leading deradicalisation experts, who has conducted peer-reviewed research and interviewed young people with extreme views, told Guardian Australia it was “very easy to get tangled up in questions of ‘was [Khayre] a criminal or a terrorist’,” and tempting for some to “go down the pathway of the uneducated poor Muslim with an immigrant background”. |
| “People talk about risk factors, but there is no profile or checklist for what makes someone go down the pathway Khayre did,” the expert, who can not be named for security reasons, said. “People talk about risk factors but what we need to look at is protective factors. | “People talk about risk factors, but there is no profile or checklist for what makes someone go down the pathway Khayre did,” the expert, who can not be named for security reasons, said. “People talk about risk factors but what we need to look at is protective factors. |
| “When your family isn’t able to be there, especially when you’re young, because they’re dead, traumatised or working three jobs to support kids, or when someone is mentally ill, it’s not a risk factor but it strips away a protective factor. | “When your family isn’t able to be there, especially when you’re young, because they’re dead, traumatised or working three jobs to support kids, or when someone is mentally ill, it’s not a risk factor but it strips away a protective factor. |
| “The same with not knowing a language or dropping out of education, they are absences of a protective factors but let’s not say they are a risk factor that causes terrorism or violence.” | “The same with not knowing a language or dropping out of education, they are absences of a protective factors but let’s not say they are a risk factor that causes terrorism or violence.” |
| Certainly, Khayre’s childhood was troubled. After arriving in Australia from Somalia via a Kenyan refugee camp, court documents show he struggled to reconcile the freedoms of Australia with parents who were conservative, traditional and strict. | Certainly, Khayre’s childhood was troubled. After arriving in Australia from Somalia via a Kenyan refugee camp, court documents show he struggled to reconcile the freedoms of Australia with parents who were conservative, traditional and strict. |
| After he lost the steadying influence of his grandfather towards the end of secondary school, and he began abusing drugs. While there has been progress in recent years towards helping young migrants and their families adapt to the Australian community while also retaining pride and an affiliation with their heritage, those programs would have come too late for Khayre. | |
| A family friend told Guardian Australia that one day, after his grandfather’s death, Khayre just “stopped going” to school. Instead, he turned to crime, and ended up in the youth justice system. | |
| Brendan Murray is the former executive principal of Parkville College, the school he helped to establish inside Victoria’s Parkville youth justice facility in 2012. He quit the role this year over concerns about the way the Victorian government was treating youth offenders, particularly after a group of young detainees were transferred following rioting to a repurposed wing of the maximum security Barwon adult prison. There, the youths no longer had access to proper education and were detained for extended periods and threatened with capsicum spray. | Brendan Murray is the former executive principal of Parkville College, the school he helped to establish inside Victoria’s Parkville youth justice facility in 2012. He quit the role this year over concerns about the way the Victorian government was treating youth offenders, particularly after a group of young detainees were transferred following rioting to a repurposed wing of the maximum security Barwon adult prison. There, the youths no longer had access to proper education and were detained for extended periods and threatened with capsicum spray. |
| But it had been shown that access to education was essential to the ability for young offenders to rehabilitate, he said. Back when Khayre was in youth detention there was no formal education, he added. | But it had been shown that access to education was essential to the ability for young offenders to rehabilitate, he said. Back when Khayre was in youth detention there was no formal education, he added. |
| “I doubt there would have been Somali mentors in there,” Murray told Guardian Australia. “There would have been identity issues and I doubt he had a strong sense of self.” | “I doubt there would have been Somali mentors in there,” Murray told Guardian Australia. “There would have been identity issues and I doubt he had a strong sense of self.” |
| Murray, who has also worked in the adult prison system, added that if the parole system were to be reformed, the information given to parole boards needed to be strengthened rather than parole itself removed. | Murray, who has also worked in the adult prison system, added that if the parole system were to be reformed, the information given to parole boards needed to be strengthened rather than parole itself removed. |
| “There needs to be accountability measures so there is a clear and accurate picture for how a detainee has developed in jail, so then the parole board can make informed decisions,” he said. | “There needs to be accountability measures so there is a clear and accurate picture for how a detainee has developed in jail, so then the parole board can make informed decisions,” he said. |
| “The parole board needs to be told more than just that someone has completed a deradicalisation program, they need information about what that person learned and how their attitudes changed or didn’t from that program.” | |
| In an interview following his nephew’s arrest for terrorism-related charges, Khayre’s uncle broke down as he told Fairfax Media that he tried to get help for the teenager as he drifted into crime. His nephew went from being an intelligent boy to someone swept up in crime, Ibrahim Khayre said. | |
| One time, when he went to a police station to collect Khayre after he stole a car, Ibrahim said he felt police considered them to be “a bunch of undesirables”. | |
| ‘‘We were let down by the system,” he told Fairfax. “The state who said we want to help, they did not. They left him out in the cold.” | |
| The blame for what Khayre did on Monday rests solely with him. But the path to an innocent man being shot dead and three police officers being wounded is a long and complicated one, and future crimes won’t be prevented by purely focusing on parole. | The blame for what Khayre did on Monday rests solely with him. But the path to an innocent man being shot dead and three police officers being wounded is a long and complicated one, and future crimes won’t be prevented by purely focusing on parole. |
| Andrews seemed to grasp this on Thursday when he said that “the challenges we face are much bigger than a parole issue”. | Andrews seemed to grasp this on Thursday when he said that “the challenges we face are much bigger than a parole issue”. |
| Banning parole for violent offenders seems like politicians might be seen to be “doing something”, and may fit in with the popular “tough on crime” approach, but these crimes won’t be prevented if the real questions aren’t asked. | Banning parole for violent offenders seems like politicians might be seen to be “doing something”, and may fit in with the popular “tough on crime” approach, but these crimes won’t be prevented if the real questions aren’t asked. |