In its Annual Threat Assessment, ASIO’s director-general of security, Mike Burgess, has flagged changes to its terminology in discussing terror threats. Gone are the terms “Islamic Extremism” and “Right-Wing Extremism” and in their places the vaguer expressions “Religiously motivated violent extremism” and “Ideologically motivated violent extremism.”
This is a concession to both the Islamic community and those conservatives that resent being lumped in with the likes of Brenton Tarrant. The Australian’s Greg Sheridan grumbled that this mealy-mouthed phraseology is political correctness that runs the risk of misleading the public as to the actual nature of threats we supposedly face.
Whatever the jargon, ASIO’s focus remains fixed on the Islamists and the accelerationists from edgy National Socialist youth cults. The altered nomenclature is being adopted among all members of the Five-Eyes intelligence partners, no doubt at significant cost to the taxpayer, and with great expenditure of the limited resources of mental energy within that organisation.
Burgess justified the replacement terms, clacking, “We don’t investigate people because of their religious views — it’s violence that is relevant to our powers — but that’s not always clear when we use the term “Islamic extremism.”
“Understandably, some Moslem groups — and others — see this term as damaging and misrepresentative of Islam, and consider that it stigmatises them by encouraging stereotyping and stoking division. Our language needs to evolve to match the evolving threat environment,” he prattled.
He added that describing “left” or “right” wing extremism was outdated and inaccurate in most cases.
The shiny-headed spy-chief gave a long and boring oration in which he advised the national threat level sits at PROBABLE. Of course, he’d have to say that otherwise, he couldn’t secure more funding. Right-wing extremism now constitutes 40 per cent of the organisation’s caseload, he said, just in case the Moslem community is feeling overly targeted.
And that bogey is evolving, according to the super-spook, who said, “People often think we’re talking about skinheads with swastika tattoos and jackboots roaming the backstreets like extras from Romper Stomper, but it’s no longer that obvious.
“Today’s ideological extremist is more likely to be motivated by a social or economic grievance than national socialism. More often than not, they are young, well-educated, articulate, and middle-class—and not easily identified. The average age of these investigative subjects is 25, and I’m particularly concerned by the number of 15 and 16-year-olds who are being radicalised. They are overwhelmingly male.”
If violence is truly their brief, then how come they haven’t named ‘domestic African-born terrorists’, since they’re an open secret. Just the other day a gang of three African males attacked and robbed a Melbourne grandfather who was blind. Or, is this a tacit admission that violence is not the only motivating condition they target, but rather ‘ideologically-motivated terror’ since that pretty much describes everything they’ve specified.
As a Nationalist — and a proper Nationalist, an Australian Nationalist, not those Blair Cottrell inaccurately describes — I’m pretty sure that ASIO should put itself on its list along with the Victorian Police, NSW Police, and the mainstream media.
I argued as much in a submission to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Extremism, which was accepted only as correspondence, and is not currently published.
I explained how the legal matter I’m currently involved in stretched from a Melbourne anarchist, to iffy Victorian Police, to the former Fairfax Media now Nine, and involves trying everything in the book to shut me up and lock me up. It is a wholly political matter.
And it has so many subplots. Like, when in 2017 a violent hammerhead named David Gullis threatened my life on several occasions and attacked my apartment in the early hours of a December morning, and was captured on CCTV, they did absolutely nothing. This was politically motivated violence.
This, even though Gullis had at least four complaints against him at Newtown Police, with others identifying him, including a former member of Antifa.
I had to run a social media campaign to find the bastard’s name. We discovered he is a member of the CFMMEU and Antifascist Action Sydney. He is also tied to certain fringe Communist cliques who are too irrelevant to name.
When I applied for an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) against the knucklehead, the magistrate told me it couldn’t be served without an address. I didn’t have his address. I suggested the Police ought to know it since enough people had complained about him. But no. The magistrate informed me that Newtown Police are not my “personal detective agency.”
However, they were much more animated when it came to serving me with a PSIO from Victoria. This involved a counter-PSIO from myself which all resulted in orders that only favoured the other party. I am now effectively outside of the law, with no protection from the Police (sic), and only the right to be accused. About a month after the resolution of this ‘matter’ Nine ran front-page stories calling for action in the wake of the Christchurch Massacres. I was arrested at four in the morning, even though I was on medication for a serious condition and hadn’t slept in over a day. I only knew the fuzz was on my trail because Jim Saleam informed me they went looking for me at the Australia First Party headquarters. I had, however, rang the station and promised to present myself the following morning. That was OK.
But no, it wasn’t — they sent five detectives armed with body odour to drag me out of bed at four am and down to the tombs of Newtown Police Station. Being half-conscious was the ideal mental condition for an interrogation. Well, it would’ve been were I anyone else but me. Heh.
Currently, I have been on bail for two years and since the date of my trial has been bumped a third time, I’ll have been on bail for more than two-and-a-half years. That’s a terror of itself, the neverending sword of Damocles hanging over my head.
Speaking of which, I was only informed a week out from aborted trial that there is an arrest warrant out for me in Victoria. Naturally, I was at a loss as to why. So, I rang the Victorian Police only to learn I’d failed to appear in court on a breach of the PSIO. I didn’t breach the PSIO, but according to them I had, only, they wouldn’t tell me how. But, and here’s the rub, I couldn’t have attended court anyway since I was forbidden from travelling to Victoria by my bail conditions. Neat, huh? Game, set and match. Likewise, I couldn’t know about the court date, since, like, they never actually told me about it.
My trial date was supposed to be the 15th (note the date was the 2nd anniversary of the Christchurch massacres) but no judge was available. On that day, I and two others went out for lunch only to be harangued by a photographer who was not with the accredited media. This person, no doubt Antifa, refused to name who he was with, and a colourful verbal exchange ensued.
Somehow this got back to NSW Police and I was informed the next day, but for the fact this person wasn’t keen to press charges, I would have been arrested for another ‘outrage.’
My lawyer explained, “They’re out to get you, Nathan. They are out to get you, so watch your step. And be aware that ASIO is crawling around this court.”
“Why?” I asked, naively.
“Because they’ve got nothing better to do,” he said.
And that’s so true. Much of the spy activity we hear about is just a bunch of grown-up schoolkids playing James Bond. In real terms, statistically speaking, the ‘right-wing threat’ doesn’t even register, not just nationally, but internationally. It’s a tiny blip next to organised crimes and whatever else.
The only person who’s been terrorised, in my case, is me. The entire apparatus of the state has combined to quash my rights, demonise me, hold me up to public ridicule, and facilitate urban terrorists to attack me. I’d say that axis should closely fit the topography that delineates a terror threat since it’s all political.
