'Unacceptable': Peter Dutton demands more co–operation from Muslim leaders on terrorism
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
'Unacceptable': Peter Dutton demands more co–operation from Muslim leaders on terrorism
By Michael Koziol, The Sydney Morning Herald, November 11 2018
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said it was "unacceptable" for Muslim leaders to withhold information from police.CREDIT:AAP
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has thrown down the gauntlet at the Muslim community to work more closely with police to prevent terrorist attacks, appearing to accuse Islamic leaders of withholding information from authorities.
In the aftermath of Hassan Khalif Shire Ali's knife-wielding rampage in the Melbourne CBD, Mr Dutton also flagged an attempt to reintroduce stricter tests for Australian citizenship, and pressed for the speedy passage of laws to give police the power to bust encrypted communications.
He strongly backed Prime Minister Scott Morrison calling out "radical, violent, extremist Islam that opposes our very way of life", and accused Labor of lacking the resolve to keep Australians safe.
"We need to be realistic about the threat," Mr Dutton said. "It is a time for community members to step up.
"The idea that [Islamic] community leaders would have information but withhold it from the police or intelligence agencies is unacceptable.
"We're best to be honest about the problem so we can address it, because otherwise more Australians will lose their lives."
Mr Dutton took aim at Muslim Labor MP and counter-terrorism expert Anne Aly, who was critical of Mr Morrison's blunt remarks about extremist Islam following Friday's attack.
The Western Australian MP had accused Mr Morrison of using divisive language because he was "politically desperate", and said the PM should "read a book" about religious extremism.
Mr Dutton accused Ms Aly of seeking to "deny that there's a problem" with Islamic fundamentalism. He also said it proved Labor "doesn't have the ability, frankly, to put in place the laws, to put in place the resolve to keep our borders secure and country safe".
Labor leader Bill Shorten also condemned violent Islamic extremism at the weekend, saying it had become "prevalent in a very small part of a radicalised minority".
Police have described Shire Ali - who killed beloved Melbourne restaurateur Sisto Malaspina and left the city in shock - as a lone actor terrorist who was known to authorities but was not known to be planning an attack.
Sources close to the family indicated Shire Ali had mental health and substance abuse issues.
On Saturday, Mr Morrison decried radical Islam as "the greatest threat of religious extremism in this country".
Rodger Shanahan, a terrorism analyst at the Lowy Institute, said Mr Morrison was clearly "correct" and should not have his remarks misinterpreted or re-purposed for political gain.
"People won’t listen to the nuance," he told Fairfax Media.
"They’ll go off on their own tangent, sometimes because they didn’t listen to what he said, or in [Ms] Aly's case because she’s a politician from the opposition and she wants to make a political point."
"It’s a sensitive topic, but you can either talk around it or you can talk at it with all the nuances that it requires – which I think is what [Mr] Morrison did."
Mr Dutton said there were "always lessons to learn" from such attacks, and named the government's failed crackdown on citizenship applications as something the Coalition should again pursue. He also stressed the need to pass a bill currently before a parliamentary inquiry that would assist police to bust encrypted communications, The Assistance and Access Bill 2018.
Mr Dutton confirmed Shire Ali had been questioned by ASIO and had his passport cancelled in 2015. He said early investigations suggested Shire Ali was inspired by Islamic State rather than affiliated with the terrorist group.
Flowers outside Pellegrini's Espresso Bar on Bourke Street, whose proprietor Sisto Malaspina was killed by Shire Ali. CREDIT: TIMNA JACKS
It was close to impossible for authorities to foil terrorists who used readily-available materials such as a car and a kitchen knife, Mr Dutton said, and thus they relied on tip-offs from the public.
"My plea is to people - within particularly the Islamic community, but across society otherwise - [is] that if you have information, if you see a behaviour of an individual or family member, [or] somebody in a workplace, that caused you concern: provide that information," Mr Dutton said.
Coalition MP Andrew Laming told Fairfax Media the government needed to maintain a "full court press" on Islamic leaders to identify potential terrorists.
"An attack against them would only ever to diminish the likelihood of that co-operation," he said.
Mr Laming also cautioned against a "culture war" approach that tried to pigeonhole attackers as either cunning terrorists or mentally unwell.
"On the spectrum of mental health on one end and pure terrorism on the other – the answer is probably somewhere in the middle," he said. "Let the experts work out where that is."
Michael Koziol is the immigration and legal affairs reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Parliament House Tags
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The following article expands what on Prime Minister Scott Morrison said:
AUSTRALIA: BOURKE STREET TERROR ATTACK: AUSTRALIAN PM SCOTT MORRISON DEMANDS MUSLIM LEADERS ‘CALL THIS OUT FOR WHAT IT IS
By Ben Wroe, SMH, [Sydney Morning Herald] November 10, 2018:
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on Muslim leaders to take “special responsibility” for stamping out radicalism in their communities, saying they must be proactive and “call this out for what it is”.
Speaking on Saturday in the wake of Melbourne’s Bourke Street attack, Mr Morrison pointedly said that Islamist extremism, rather than a corruption of any other religion, presented the most dangerous form of radicalism in Australia.
PM CALLS OUT RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
Following the Bourke Street attack, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the greatest threat of religious extremism in Australia is the “dangerous ideology” of extremist Islam.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten meanwhile said Australia needed to be “ruthless” against people who carried out violence in the name of a “twisted, perverse” version of religion but cautioned against generalising about Muslims.
The question of how political leaders discuss Islamist extremism has been a controversial one in recent years. Tony Abbott as prime minister angered many Muslim community leaders by once questioning their dedication to curbing extremism, while his successor Malcolm Turnbull deliberately toned down his rhetoric, arguing that Muslim communities were key allies in the fight against radicalisation.
Mr Morrison appeared to aim for a middle ground on Saturday, though he deliberately flagged his remarks as a moment of political bluntness, saying he had to “address the real issue here”.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“I am the first to protect religious freedom in this country, but it also means I must be the first to call out religious extremism,” he said.
“Religious extremism takes many forms around the world, and no religion is immune from it … But here in Australia, we would be kidding ourselves if we did not call out the fact that the greatest threat of religious extremism … is the radical and dangerous ideology of extremist Islam.”
Mr Morrison praised Muslim Australians who were trying to protect their children and communities from radicalisation and commended “these Australians for the leadership and courage … often at great risk to themselves and their families”.
But he went on: “There is a special responsibility on religious leaders to protect their religious communities and to ensure that these dangerous teachings and ideologies do not take root here.
“They must be proactive, they must be alert and they must call this out, in their communities and more broadly, for what it is.”
He said the government, religious leaders and the community would all have to work together, adding that he would meet with and speak with Muslim leaders.
Mr Shorten said violent Islamist extremism was a “real threat” and that Australia needed “to be ruthless and relentless against people who are going to commit this sort of violence and whatever twisted, perverse, definition of religion or ideology makes them do this”.
But he stressed that commentators and leaders should not “lump everyone of the faith into that basket”.
“This is a small, radicalised proportion of that general group and our best weapon to help keep us safe is working with the rest of the community to make sure that these extremist elements are identified, apprehended and dealt with.”
He also revealed he had spoken just last Monday to Sisto Malaspina, the 74-year-old co-owner of the famous Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, who was killed in the attack.
“I was talking to Sisto as recently as last Monday … He was always good for a chat about politics and Melbourne … He’s a Melbourne icon,” Mr Shorten said.
Nice to see a country's leaders not call Islamic Terrorism "workplace violence" or "mental illness", and rightly call a spade a spade.
I wonder if the SPLC will name Australia a "hate group".
LOL. What's the matter, "source critics"? Nothing to say about this source?
I don't know anything about Australian law, but in America, just as you have the right to speak, you have the right to not speak. Not speaking doesn't make you guilty.
Well, one good thing about Australia, is that not only do you have the right to vote, you are charged with a fine if you don't.
Actually, Muslim leaders, assuming they fear and hate terrorism, must use all their power to root out terrorism and destroy it with the most extreme prejudice.
Adding this----If these leaders do not act forcefully and immediately then--------we know where they stand.
I have never seen a report that CAIR has criticized the imams in America who preach Jew-hatred, have you?
I stand by my post. Although after the Squirrel Hill shootings the local Mosques aided with money, support and comfort. Need more of that. Much more. Acts such as these are the greatest weapon against all religious terror.
A/noon Buzz..No, no you have got it all wrong...The latest from the Terrorists family is..wait for it..."It was a cry for help"...I am with the witnesses, when they were telling the cops "just shoot him!!"...Now it doesn't have to cry anymore for help..Could not have asked for a better outcome..one less in the world taking up valuable oxygen for far more deserving people...
Hi Shona. Of course you're closer to what happened there, but are you telling me that the Sydney Morning Herald, the Prime Minister and the Home Affairs Minister have it all wrong? I saw a reference to Mental Health and drug issues, but that's the excuse everyone gives.