Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) - AUS

OPINION: With research indicating that at least 12% of female respondents in intimate partner violence cases in Victoria are misidentified as perpetrators – and some organisations suggesting the figure, particularly for indigenous and migrant women, could be as high as 50% – Kavitha Vipulananda, author, speaker and reform consultant, sets out a range of reforms for police in Victoria and agencies more widely across Australia that could address the injustices based in systemic issues that are faced by vulnerable women.

OPINION: With the changing nature of terrorist threats and the proscription of Palestine Action, former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher, now an author, journalist and terrorism expert, looks at what is potentially emerging as a new ‘Fifth Wave’ of global terrorism, its relationship with crime, and the possible impact of branding criminal organisations as terrorist groups.

OPINION: Blended or hybrid radical ideologies that comprise seemingly separate beliefs are increasingly impacting younger audiences, and providing motivation for violent extremism; with misogynistic and anti-feminist views often overlapping these ideologies, Astrid Young, research intern at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warns that Australia needs a targeted policy response to deter young people from extremism.

OPINION: With the terrorist threat level in Australia sitting at ‘probable’, former Australian Secretary of Home Affairs Michael Pezzullo warns that the current confusion over responsibility for counter-terrorism in the country is weakening security – particularly in relation to the anti-Semitic terror threat – and sets out 10 steps the government needs to take to address the problem.

ANALYSIS: The Australian Government published a new counter-terrorism (CT) and counter-violent extremism (CVE) strategy last month, with surprisingly little publicity; Henry Campbell of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) believes that the new document is both light on CT policy and lacking in strategy, and fails to meet the new and evolving terrorist threat facing Australia.

OPINION: A new report from the five nations of the Five Eyes intelligence community highlights the increasing rates of online youth radicalisation, a threat borne out by the involvement of young people in every counter-terrorism case investigated this year by the Australian Federal Police; Greg Barton, Professor of Global Islamic Politics at the Alfred Deakin Institute, argues that while Australia already has good systems in place, the report offers valuable advice for parents, teachers, and any other agencies working with children and young people.

ANALYSIS: While a recent raise in the terror threat level has increased awareness among Australians about the domestic terror threat, John Coyne and Justin Bassi of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warn that Australia’s diminishing role in international counter-terrorism (CT), coupled with uncertainty over CT responsibility and resources at government level, is exposing Australian citizens to greater risk.

OPINION: The latest annual assessment by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), set out in a speech by Director-General Mike Burgess, has downgraded the terror threat level from ‘probable’ to ‘possible’; but Professor Greg Austin of the University of Technology Sydney believes the assessment is confusing, downplaying the threat of right-wing extremism while over-emphasising the threat from some foreign powers.

ANALYSIS: Although Australia maintains a low ranking in the Global Terrorism Index, a shifting focus from jihadist actors to homegrown terrorists, coupled with a surge in terrorism investigations among minors, suggests that radicalisation among disaffected and troubled teenagers is a growing problem – one which, if ignored, could lead to disaster, warns Australian Strategic Policy Institute visiting fellow William Frangia.

ANALYSIS: This month’s 2023 Australian threat assessment maintained that the risk of terrorist attacks was ‘possible’ rather than ‘probable’; but Dr John Coyne, head of the Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warns that the domestic terror threat hasn’t gone away, and that policing’s focus on early intervention around extremist beliefs could prove counter-productive.

FEATURE: This week the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation announced that the country’s terror threat level was to be reduced; Dr John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre, warns that while the move should be welcomed, extremist ideologies still exist in Australia and will need continued careful and close monitoring to prevent any further acts of violence.

ANALYSIS: With the electronic communications landscape changing significantly and quickly, existing legislation covering law enforcement electronic surveillance has struggled to keep pace; Analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf and specialist Jocelinn Kang, both of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, take a closer look at the country’s planned legislative reform around electronic surveillance, and why balancing security and liberty will be essential in any new law.

FEATURE: In his latest Annual Threat Assessment Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), has revealed that minors now account for half of ASIO’s priority counter-terrorism investigations, as the online radicalisation that went into overdrive during Covid lockdowns has created a new wave of more intense extremists ready to use violence.

ANALYSIS: While the UK, North America and Europe have taken steps to list violent far-right groups as terrorist organisations, Australia has been slower to make the same move; Analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believes it’s important to do so soon – and in a meaningful way – to enable police to tackle the threat.