Benbrika Case Shows Australia in Danger of Complacency About Violent Extremism

But the evidence shows that some offenders remain simply too much of an ongoing security threat. Benbrika was one of these.

He had a proven ability as a leader who could inspire others and coordinate a terrorism plot, including a plan to detonate a bomb at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 2005 AFL Grand Final. His failure to reform in prison, and his ongoing proselytization of violent jihadism, meant he continued to pose a danger.

In the past couple of years, we have moved into an era in which other threats have risen and surpassed terrorism. Foreign interference and espionage were declared in 2021 to be Australia’s top security threats.

But Burgess has always been clear this doesn’t mean terrorism has disappeared. Yet we’re now at risk of repeating our mistakes. Because IS and al-Qaeda are no longer on the front pages, we’re in danger of complacency about violent extremism.

We saw this play out in March 2023 when the then Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, Grant Donaldson—arguably stepping beyond his remit—said that CDOs were not necessary to counter the threat of terrorism and recommended they be abolished.

In doing so, the watchdog was choosing a point in time and misunderstanding the nature of the terrorism threat, which ebbs and flows. The government is yet to make any response to the recommendation.

In fact, in recent weeks the parliament has introduced a new preventative detention regime based on the terror laws to deal with the fallout of the High Court ruling that meant more than 150 non-citizens were released from immigration detention, some despite having criminal convictions.

This shows the folly of the original recommendation and shows it’s unlikely the government will abolish CDOs altogether—all the more reason why someone as serious as Benbrika shouldn’t be released without a court even being given a chance to consider continuing detention.

In another significant development, the Hamas–Israel war has inflamed hatreds for which a firebrand like Benbrika could prove a combustible new accelerant.

Overall, Australia is proving to be a resilient nation, to the credit of our multicultural society. But there are extremists looking to incite hatred and violence.

Remember, just three years ago, a court found Benbrika to pose an unacceptable risk to society.

And yet the Commonwealth isn’t even asking the court to hold him further. What risk is there in asking the court the question it affirmed in 2020?

Surely less than the risk of releasing Australia’s most notorious terrorist into the community.

CDOs are a constitutionally valid measure that we’ve just seen used as the model for the immigration detainees. And yet we are choosing not to use it now.

If we don’t use it for someone like Benbrika, when would we use it?

Justin Bassi is the executive director of ASPI. John Coyne is the head of ASPI’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre and strategic policing and law enforcement program. This article is published courtesy of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).