Newcastle Man Arrested Over Terrorist Threats
New South Wales counter-terrorism police have arrested an alleged right-wing extremist from Newcastle for threatening to cause a “mass casualty event” at a mosque. 43-year old Cormac Rothsey was arrested following an investigation by the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team,...
Isolating Extremists Increases the Danger
One of the responses used by many countries to the threat of violent extremism has been to segregate suspected offenders in prison. However, a decade-long study of prisons in the Philippines by Australian National University researcher Dr Clarke Jones suggests...
Serial Hate Preacher Arrested Over Threats
Police have arrested and charged prolific hate preacher Nathan Sykes for allegedly making threats of violence against a Melbourne journalist. The ‘lieutenant’ of Australia’s most prominent white supremacist Jim Saleam, Mr Sykes has been charged with a number of offences...
Christchurch: True Blue Aussie Terrorism
As an Anglo-Australian man stormed into the Al Noor Mosque on Deans Avenue in Christchurch last Friday afternoon, Haji-Daoud Nabi greeted his assailant at the door with the words, “Hello, brother. Welcome”. And for this the 71-year-old Afghan man lost...
Terrorist Attack in Christchurch – The Volcano Set to Erupt
Meticulously cultivated, Islamophobia is an uncontrollable force - one that pushed through the brittle surface on Friday 15th March 2019 to take the lives of 50 innocent men, women and children. There was nothing shocking about what occurred on that...
Right-Wing Extremists: The Real Terrorism Threat
The horrific massacre in two Christchurch mosques which was allegedly perpetrated by Australian white supremacist Brentan Tarrant has led to calls for a renewed focus on right-wing terrorism. On 15 March 2019, Tarrant allegedly slaughtered 49 defenceless people, including children,...
Laws Empowering Government to Revoke Citizenship May be Unconstitutional
The Morrison government announced late last year it would be passing legislation to lower the threshold for stripping Australians suspected of terrorist activity of their citizenship. The Federal Labor Party has now signalled its intention to oppose the measure after...
Government Limits Power of Courts to Impose Alternatives to Imprisonment
Section 5(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (‘the Act’) makes clear that a court “must not sentence an offender to imprisonment unless it is satisfied, having considered all possible alternatives, that no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate.” This is the statutory...
Sydney Man Sentenced to Death in Iraq
An Australian man has asked the Australian Government for assistance after being found guilty of terrorism offences in Iraq and sentenced to death by hanging. Former labourer Ahmed Merhi travelled to Syria in 2015 where, he says, he engaged in...
Victoria Increases Police Powers and Removes Legal Safeguards
The recent weeks, the bulk of Victoria’s Justice Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2018 has been enacted, which the state government claims will better protect the community against the threat of terrorism. The changes include new powers for police to detain...
