Two Australian teens convicted under counter-terrorism laws as AFP and Asio warn of ‘early signs of radicalisation’

Asio and the AFP have revealed that two Australian teenagers, 16 and 14, have been convicted under the country’s counter-terrorism laws.

The anonymised details of the two unrelated cases were published as part of an unprecedented coordinated plea from security agencies in the Five Eyes countries – Australia, the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand – for their citizens to do more to stop young people falling prey to radical, violent ideologies.

“Parents, teachers, health professionals and frontline workers need to understand and identify the early signs of radicalisation,” Asio’s director general, Mike Burgess, said. “Once Asio and the AFP get involved, it is usually too late – the young person is already in a dark and dangerous place.”

The Australian federal police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, said the AFP wanted parents, teachers, and healthcare workers to help limit children’s access to violent extremist material.

Titled “Young people and violent extremism: a call for collective action”, the paper warned that mental ill health, neurodiversity and social isolation were among the characteristics making young people vulnerable to exploitation, especially on gaming sites and messaging platforms.

The first Australian case in the paper involved a 16-year-old who came to the attention of the joint counter-terrorism team of federal, state and territory security agencies after sharing ideologically motivated violent material online.

The teenager was “advocating for attacks on persons of non-Caucasian appearance, and urged others to prepare for an upcoming race war to defend the white race”, including discussing carrying out a mass killing offshore which would be livestreamed online. The case study said the person was seeking help to make bombs, praising mass shooters and suggesting “high-profile enemies” to target.

The 16-year-old was convicted of advocating terrorism and sentenced to 18 months’ jail.

The other case involved a 14-year-old who adhered to a “nationalist and racist violent extremist ideology”, expressed strong admiration for terrorist attacks and posted on Snapchat that they planned to carry out a shooting at their high school.

The paper said the child had boasted of having access to enough guns and explosives to kill a large number of students and was known for being racist towards people of Asian and Indigenous heritage. He was found to have a tactical vest and ballistic helmet when security officers conducted a search.

The 14-year-old was sentenced to a two-year good behaviour bond and 12 months’ probation for a range of terrorism advocacy offences.

The paper urged Australians to watch for signs of radicalisation and to question children, warning that the process can begin with “moderately objectionable material containing violent extremist narratives”, which then intensifies.

It pointed to “seemingly innocuous” platforms including Discord, Instagram, Roblox and TikTok, which could be used for first approaches to minors and enabled access to violent extremist content because it could be created within the platforms.

“Minors are increasingly normalising violent behaviour in online groups including joking about carrying out terrorist attacks and creating violent extremist content, which further complicates the role of counter-terrorism agencies in seeking to identify genuine online threats,” the paper said.

The two agency chiefs flagged an upcoming government strategy on counter-terrorism and violent extremism, which had been partly informed by the Five Eyes collaboration.