New head of AFP flags specialised taskforce to tackle extremists

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The new Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Krissy Barrett, says the hate crime offences created earlier this year after a spate of antisemitic attacks may need to be taken even further

Transcript

00:00So under my leadership, the AFP will have a laser focus on disrupting crimes that undermine

00:08our sovereignty, our democracy, our social cohesion, our financial institutions, our

00:15future prosperity.

00:16We have seen a changing operating environment for us as law enforcement and as the AFP here

00:23in Australia.

00:24And so another reason why I'm really calling out social cohesion as part of my laser focus

00:30and the importance that social cohesion has to our democracy, to the very fundamentals

00:37of being an Australian and feeling safe and secure to live in Australia.

00:41Yeah.

00:42How concerning is this increase in political violence and how much sort of, I guess, resources

00:48is that taken by the AFP?

00:51Have you had to try and ramp up security, for example, for politicians and that kind

00:56of thing?

00:57I think there's been a shift in the environment in the last couple of years, to the point

01:01that, you know, under my leadership, the AFP has established national security investigations

01:07teams.

01:09So to be very clear, these are teams that will be dedicated to investigating and disrupting,

01:15you know, high harm activity that threatens our social cohesion.

01:20Part of that is threats against federal parliamentarians as well.

01:26So these teams will be located in Melbourne, in Sydney and in Canberra.

01:30So how are these NSI teams, for example, like how prepared are they to deal with politically

01:36motivated violence?

01:38For example, that falls short of terrorism offences, but are still sort of threatening

01:43public safety?

01:45So a couple of things I would say there, we have had legislation for a little while now

01:50specific to hate crimes, to hate symbols, to those types of offences that I'm describing.

01:56So we have had investigators investigating those matters.

02:00But, you know, by standing up dedicated teams, you know, a number of benefits there.

02:07First and foremost, we are calling out clearly to any individuals or groups who are partaking

02:13or driving this type of behaviour, where it gets to a point that it is criminal behaviour,

02:19they are on notice.

02:20And these teams will sit within our counter-terrorism and special investigations command.

02:25But the benefit of having the teams, as I said, it'll be a dedicated focus, but it ensures

02:30that there'll be coordination across the country.

02:33Do you think there needs to be a conversation around how we define terrorism in this sort

02:38of new era where we are seeing, for example, right-wing extremists or whichever group it

02:44might be, I guess, directly trying to create fear in the community and target social cohesion?

02:49The bulk of our investigations and or caseload has been related to religiously motivated violent

02:56extremism.

02:57You know, what we have seen in the shift in the operating environment in the last couple

03:02of years is, you know, behaviours, activities that are not, you know, they're not at the threshold

03:13of being a terrorist act, but they do have significant national security consequences.

03:20And we do know that, you know, these types of behaviours do have the possibility of leading

03:26to violent extremism.

03:28Policing is having to adapt to this changing environment.

03:31Do you feel like there's, I guess, the legislative measures in place at the moment are sufficient

03:37for you to do your job the most effectively?

03:39So we have the hate crimes legislation, for example, which was introduced earlier this

03:45year.

03:46And we have a number of investigations that are underway under that new legislation.

03:53Part of our approach to these national security investigations teams is looking at, I guess,

03:58as I've described the national strategy, looking at where are the policy levers, where are potential

04:05opportunities for new legislation and or amended legislation?

04:10Is the legislation working for us as it stands?

04:14So that is part of, you know, how we're approaching this from, I guess, you know, from a strategic

04:21perspective as well as an operational perspective.

04:23And I guess it's really bit

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