Good morning.
I will start by acknowledging the shocking, alleged attack against the Member for Indi, Dr Helen Haines. The AFP's thoughts are with Dr Haines and her family.
Today's inquiry is incredibly important - and the AFP sincerely thanks PJCIS Chair Senator Raff Ciccone and Deputy Chair Andrew Wallace for their leadership in this matter
You will hear some very confronting content from me this morning. But to be frank, we need policymakers to hear clearly what the AFP is saying and predicting because we are facing one of our greatest challenges in history when it comes to youth radicalisation and manipulation.
This issue was one of the first areas of concern publicly raised by AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett when she was appointed as Commissioner last year.
Commissioner Barrett, who continues to receive briefings in relation to the alleged attack on Dr Haines, has asked me to reinforce to the Committee that Australia is at the crossroads of a tsunami of youth crime, as young, vulnerable and impressionable individuals are being radicalised and manipulated at rapid speed.
She has asked me to provide examples that should make everyone understand the extent and severity of the threat we are facing - and more so - that we need to do more from a whole-of-society perspective to help ensure our kids and the vulnerable can be resistant to radicalisation and manipulation.
In one example, a Joint Counter Terrorism Team investigated a 13-year-old boy for allegedly possessing violent extremist material. He was using social media platform Discord.
During a warrant executed at his home, we allegedly found a notebook that contained plans for a school shooting. This was not in the US. This was in Australia. The juvenile is before the courts for Make Document Likely to Facilitate Terrorist Acts.
In another example, law enforcement charged a young Australian teen with use carriage service for child abuse material. It is alleged the teen connected with a sadistic online network to seek his online handle be written across an infant's face while forcing the infant to vape.
Online networks like the COM and 764 are loosely affiliated individuals who are motivated by nihilism, gore, sextortion, cyber disruption or violence.
Often, they turn desperate victims into perpetrators. For example, youth are recording or livestreaming the crushing of animals or physically or sexually assaulting their siblings to escape the hold their blackmailers have over them. They think if they do what they are asked, they will no longer be targeted.
These online groups go hunting for victims on social media or online games, and many victims are young girls. They are made to feel like they have made a friend, but realistically they are being groomed and then trapped in a cycle of hurting themselves for gratification of these online groups. Girls with eating disorders, low self-esteem or issues with mental health are vulnerable to these groups, but boys are also falling victim.
Previously, it used to take months or years to radicalise or manipulate individuals, but now, in some cases, it is happening within days. This can be attributed to artificial intelligence, a growing grievance generation, young people searching for purpose and belonging, and the sophistication of these online networks.
While technology and AI bring many opportunities to society, including for law enforcement agencies, the AFP is deeply concerned AI is accelerating and lowering the skills required to actively manipulate and radicalise victims online, and cause serious harm.
The current scale and pace of radicalisation and manipulation did not exist at the time of other significant terrorism and radicalisation threats, such as the rise of ISIS in the mid-2010s.
Technology and the evolution of manipulation underscores the stark difference between how individuals were radicalised a decade ago to how they are radicalised now.
Without serious intervention, Australia faces mental health, education, finance and judicial systems being overwhelmed by a younger generation and vulnerable people burdened by repeated victimisation or because they are committing serious criminal offences.
This could have serious consequences for democracy, traditional institutions and the rules-based order. Manipulation and the grievances criminals fuel can cause distrust in communities and fray our social fabric.
The threat and challenges we face require different thinking and more upstream intervention, because no one radicalisation or manipulation case is the same.
The AFP has initiated research into youth radicalisation and violent extremism. That research is in its final stages of peer review.
The AFP has also established a special advisory group, which includes leaders of faith, mental health and youth advocacy not-for-profit to provide advice in our bid to educate parents, carers and children who can be harder to reach because they are time poor, sceptical of law enforcement or have limited awareness of the risks, indicators and pathways to radicalisation.
Commissioner Barrett has also held several meetings with big tech in Australia and offshore to find common ground and solutions to our challenges.
These are just some of the steps the AFP is taking when it comes to education and outreach.
On an investigative front, there are two measures I want to bring to your attention. The establishment of the National Security Investigations (NSI) teams, which are a flying squad of hate disrupters who focus on high-harm, high-impact politically motivated violence, communal violence and hate crimes that do not meet the threshold for terrorism investigations but drive fear and division.
Another capability will be the Counter Terrorism Online Centre (CTOC), which will allow ASIO and the AFP to identify, target and disrupt credible threats, which will be triaged and coordinated for action. The CTOC will put a magnifying glass over the online hate-breeding grounds, such as gaming platforms, dedicated encrypted communication platforms and social media platforms.
The CTOC eventually aims to bring the best of two worlds together - human ingenuity with human-led and monitored AI, and will roll out over phases, to allow for likely legislative and technological builds.
I acknowledge my statement is confronting but we must have these honest conversations.
Thank you and I will take questions.
