Australia's alarming rise in teen extremism

Federal police sound alarm on teen extremism

Australian federal police report a surge in youth extremism prosecutions. Of 37 young people prosecuted in counter-terrorism cases since 2020, 32 were charged in the past two years.

Most charged are under 18

In March, Guardian Australia revealed that most people charged with the new federal crime of possession of violent extremist material are under 18 years old.

Online networks spreading violence

Young people are being drawn into sprawling online ecosystems that urge violence and nihilism. Perpetrators coerce victims not much younger than themselves to commit brutal and degrading acts.

Darwin teenagers charged with terror documents

In the last month two teenagers in Darwin were charged with collecting documents that could facilitate acts of terrorism. One allegedly possessed material glorifying mass casualty attacks at schools.

White nationalist content found in NT

Five months earlier, another Northern Territory teenager was charged with posts containing pro-Nazi, anti-immigration, anti-trans and white nationalist themes.

Experts see younger victims and perpetrators

Victoria University professor Debra Smith says the age of young people caught up in extremism has decreased dramatically over the past decade.

“hard drives full of what can only be described as gore”

TikTok and Telegram fuel extremist content

A New South Wales teenager who pleaded guilty to possessing violent extremist material first encountered such content on TikTok at age 14.

Experts warn against arrest-only approach

Levi West, research fellow at the Australian National University, says young people may be victims as much as perpetrators. He warns we cannot arrest our way out of this problem and must address underlying causes.

“We are not going to arrest our way out of this problem”

Smith calls for developmental understanding

Debra Smith says authorities must recognise when young people engage in harmful behaviour early and help them access non-punitive pathways. She warns against labelling children with terrorism offences at ages 12, 13, 14 and 15.

“My grave concern is that if we are just giving everyone terrorism offences at [age] 12, 13, 14, 15, we're starting to label them the thing that they will become.”