Australians told to report friends and family for anti-government thoughts

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has called on Australians to report their
friends and family to intelligence agencies or the police if they change
their thoughts on the government.

Mr Dutton made the comments in an interview with Sky News host Laura Jayes,
who asked him about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australian Security
Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) boss Mike Burgess on Monday warning of an
increased risk of terrorism.

“We saw the terror threat raised to Probable yesterday. But there are
multiple fronts now. One of those fronts that I found most interesting has
come out of Covid,” Ms Jaye asked.

“There’s the conspiracy theorists, the anti-vaxxers, who are finding
support in dark corners of the internet. What does this say to you about –
and I know we can all be perfect in hindsight, Covid was unprecedented –
but what does it say to you about government overreach, and government,
essentially, controlling people’s lives and the effects that that can
have?”

Mr Dutton responded by agreeing that government overreach during the
pandemic had a “huge mental impact on young people” and laid the blame for
much of that on former premier Dan Andrews and his lockdowns in Victoria.

But he then added: “None of that, though, should give rise to the sort of
conduct that you’re referring to.

“I would say to anybody in our community, whether it’s within your
friendship group, your family group, the work group, whatever it might be,
where you see somebody’s behaviour changing, regardless of their
motivation, or if they’ve changed radically their thoughts about society
and government, etc., you need to report that information to ASIO, or to
the Australian Federal Police as a matter of urgency.”

Mr Dutton was heavily criticised for his comments, with fast fiction author
John Goddard saying: “I love this new version of democracy where you get
reported to the police if you don’t like the government.”

Another social media user called Aussie Phil wrote: “At this stage, if you
don’t oppose government, you are a traitor, a coward or both.

“Government is meant to serve the people, even the ones that don’t want a
big bloated globalist controlled government.

“My conservative views are not extreme, they are similar views to my
ancestors that built this great nation.”

Dean Anderson said: “We are now entering the dark days of the USSR. Opposed
to the government ? Dob in your neighbours.”

Mr Burgess said on Monday that the terror threat had been raised after
eight incidents in the past four months were deemed terrorism, investigated
for terror links, or were prevented by ASIO.

Intelligence sources have said all eight were alleged perpetrated by young
men aged 14 to 21, including the alleged Islamic terror attack on Orthodox
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in April.

“Politically motivated violence now joins espionage and foreign
interference as our principle security concerns,” Mr Burgess said.

“Anti-authority beliefs are growing, trust in institutions is eroding,
provocative, inflammatory behaviours are being normalised.

Mr Albanese added: “Governments around the world are concerned about youth
radicalisation, online radicalisation and the rise of new, mixed
ideologies.”

Other factors cites as leading to alleged radicalisation and the raising of
the threat level include social isolation, COVID-19, conflict in the Middle
East and the high cost of living and housing.

Mr Dutton is just back from a controversial trip to Israel which was
criticised by Australians from across the political spectrum.

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