Australia has announced its toughest stance on terrorism to date and moves to counter the growth of home grown radicals by cancelling passports and appointing a new chief of counter terrorism.
Tougher measures could follow.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has repeated a call that in his view moderate Muslims and Islamic religious leaders need to do more to counter the threat.
“I've often heard Western leaders describe Islam as a 'religion of peace'. I wish more Muslim leaders would say that more often and mean it," Mr Abbott said when launching his national security statement.
“Everybody, including Muslim community leaders, needs to speak up clearly because no matter what the grievance, violence against innocents must surely be a blasphemy against all religions” he said.
In many parts of Australia, voters said ‘hear, hear’.
But this is a very complicated law and order problem and dealing with it isn’t simple.
Many Muslim leaders in Australia are already speaking out against radical Islam and they do mean it. Just ask local Liberal MP for the Sydney seat of Reid, Craig Laundy, he knows that is true. He works with these Muslim leaders every day. He is trying to ensure these leaders are encouraged in his area and across the country.
Reid is one of the most culturally diverse seats in Australia, it includes the Sydney suburbs of Burwood, Homebush and Lidcome. It has a large Muslim population.
Many Muslim leaders in Australia are already speaking out against radical Islam and they do mean it.
The problem with focusing on what Muslim leaders should ‘do more of’ is that it tends to embolden those who disagree and want division rather than encourage those working towards peace and harmony.
The issue for all of us as Australians is that for the group of young Muslims who do feel alienated and disenfranchised from Australian society, radical Islam is an attractive option. It is easy to feel better about problems of your own when striking out at others. Hence the radical message is finding a comfortable home with some of these disaffected youth. The vast majority of Australian Muslims want this threat countered as well and marginalising those positive community members won’t help the problem.
Mr Abbott says 90 Australians are now fighting with terror groups in Iraq and Syria. We should all be concerned about that. These days sophisticated social media presentations are being used to target potential recruits. The threat in Australia is rising.
Counter radicalisation programs are essential if the threat in Australia is to be stopped. This is a problem not just in Australia, but in the United Kingdom, Canada, the USA and elsewhere. For counter radicalisation to be successful the Muslim community needs to feel it can help lead this process. Many moderate Muslims are working already, around the clock to try to counter this threat and they need support and encouragement from the Government and all of us, not criticism.
Understandably many Australians are concerned about the terror threat. They are worried about how to counter the rise of home grown terror threats and the Martin Place siege and the tragic death of two Australians only makes that fear worse.
Something needs to be done. In the Martin Place siege lax bail laws kept the gunman on the streets. This was a failure of process rather than of law. It is a failure of process that needs to be fixed.
In his speech the Prime Ministers language was strong.
“We cannot allow bad people to use our good nature against us.”
“There is no greater responsibility on me, on the Government than keeping you (Australians) safe.”
“The terrorist threat is rising at home and abroad and it is becoming harder to combat.”
All of that is correct. The fact that ASIO is examining 400 cases and the fact that Man Haron Monis the Lindt Café gunman wasn’t even on the Government’s watch list is frightening for all of us.
As a community this is a subject we all need to discuss. That discussion should be calm and detailed and we should begin it now. It’ll take time and there are no quick answers. All political parties want the problem solved. By encouraging community understanding at the same time it is likely to be solved more quickly and more effectively.
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