Melbourne 'terror suspect' death sparks bipartisan calls to reach isolated youth
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Version 0 of 1. Senior members of major Australian political parties have cited the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old man by counter-terrorism police as evidence of the need to reach out to isolated young Muslims and reduce the risk of radicalisation. Coalition and Labor MPs said the incident outside a Melbourne police station also underlined the need for vigilance, as the government pushed ahead with the largest overhaul of the nation’s counter-terrorism laws in a decade. Federal and Victorian police said the person of interest had been seen with an Islamic State (Isis) flag and had his passport suspended about a week ago, but they had no information of a specific threat. The man allegedly stabbed two officers during an arranged meeting outside the Endeavour Hills police station in the Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs on Tuesday night. Tony Abbott, who is on his way to New York for a UN security council meeting dealing with the risk posed by foreign fighters, issued a video media release from Hawaii about the “nasty incident”. The prime minister said the “terror suspect” had mounted “a fierce attack on both officers” and the incident indicated “that there are people in our community who are capable of very extreme acts”. “It also indicates that the police will be constantly vigilant to protect us against people who would do us harm,” he said. But the Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the parliamentary secretary to the minister for social services, emphasised the need to reach out to Islamic communities. She said the overwhelming majority of Muslim Australians found “the barbarism of [Isis] absolutely and utterly abhorrent” and it would play in into the hands of terrorists “to turn on each other on the basis of religion or race”. Fierravanti-Wells, who has been leading consultation with Islamic communities on the counter-terrorism laws, said the government’s $630m funding package for police and security agencies included $13.4m for programs to counter violent extremism. “There will also be referral and support processes for individuals at risk to help them disengage from their activities and to combat online radicalisation with education programs and working with communities, industry and overseas partners,” she said. “The incident that has occurred overnight with the shooting death of an 18-year-old by police in Melbourne, known to be a terror suspect, reinforces the absolute priority and need for this sort of intervention. “Young people become disenfranchised for any number of reasons. When this happens, they become vulnerable. They turn to drugs, gangs, crimes or other activities. “What we are seeing with some young people is this disenfranchisement manifesting itself in radicalisation. They are vulnerable and susceptible to being preyed on by those intent on radicalising them, especially through social media. “It is very clear from discussions with communities and through the recent roundtables that the most effective and financially beneficial way to progress our countering violent extremism efforts is to work directly with the communities.” The Labor frontbencher Jason Clare, a former justice minister, said Isis could be “a lightning rod” and events in the Middle East had “the potential to poison the minds of people here in Australia”. Clare said law enforcement agencies must be given the right powers and resources because a small group of people could do “terrible harm to the Australian community”. But he said the issue required a broader response, with community and religious leaders, parents, teachers, doctors, youth workers and others “creating an environment where everybody feels like they belong”. “People are angry that their religion has been hijacked by extremists overseas,” Clare told Sky News. “There is a sense of frustration that people have to keep telling everybody that they are loyal to Australia and there is a worry that they will be targeted because of the actions of a few. “I’ve got a good mate of mine called Amer, his son came home from school the other day, on Friday. Now this is a young boy, 11 years old, his biggest issue up until now has been whether he cheers on the Eels or the Bulldogs. He came home Friday and said to his dad, ‘Dad, why does everybody hate us?’ Now I worry about that because if people feel like they don’t belong, if they feel isolated then that’s when organisations like [Isis] and their rancid ideology have the potential to poison the minds of people in Australia to do terrible things.” Labor MP Anthony Byrne, deputy chairman of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, said the events in his electorate on Tuesday night were “shocking and horrific”. “It shows why we need to remain vigilant to keep our community safe,” he said. The deputy leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt, said it was “time for us all to come together as a community and work out how to stop these kinds of tragedies from happening”. “I appeal to everyone living in the community to put hatred aside,” the Melbourne-based MP said. The attorney general, George Brandis, speaking about concerns about increasing the power of security agencies in the first national security bill, told parliament freedom was “not a given”. “A free society is not the usual experience of mankind,” Brandis said. “Freedom must be secured and particularly at a time when those who would destroy our freedoms are active, are blatant and are among us. It is all the more important that our freedoms be secured by those with the capacity and the necessary powers to keep us safe.” |