Children as young as 13 are being recruited by Nazis in Australia

ASIO chief says teenagers represent an increasing proportion of those of interest in counter-terrorism investigations

The number of minors being radicalised is getting higher and the age of the minors being radicalised is getting lower, a report by ASIO has found.

“Children as young as 13 are now embracing extremism,” wrote the agency’s Director-General Mike Burgess in his 2022 threat assessment.

“As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls, and why others are sharing beheading videos. And just as importantly, we must reflect on what we can do about it,” Burgess wrote.

“A few years ago, minors represented around two to three per cent of our new counter-terrorism investigations. In the last year, though, the figure’s been closer to 15 per cent. And perhaps more disturbingly, these young people are more intense in their extremism.

“At the end of last year, on average, minors represented more than half of our priority counter-terrorism investigations each week. This should concern us all.”

ASIO had predicted as far back as 2007 that a pandemic would result in an increase in anti-government behaviours “and we have certainly seen that with COVID”.

“We are seeing a growing number of individuals motivated by a fear of societal collapse or a specific social or economic grievance or conspiracy. Individuals who hold these views, and are willing to support violence to further them, are best and most accurately described as ideologically motivated violent extremists,” he wrote.