AFP boss warns boys as young as 12 being radicalised at home

AFP boss Krissy Barrett says new youth teen radicalisation data shows the evolution of youth extremism, revealing warning signs and shattering previous assumptions.

Commissioner Barrett has also revealed that female parliamentarians are three times more likely to receive abuse or threats, showing a clear gender divide.

Commissioner Barrett will raise security for politicians at an upcoming meeting with state and territory police commissioners.

Australia's top cop Krissy Barrett has warned teenage boys as young as 12 are being radicalised in their bedrooms, lured by a chaotic blend of violent jihadism, white supremacy and anti-government rage.

Appearing before Senate Estimates on Tuesday, Commissioner Barrett pointed to an internal analysis of 55 youth cases — involving children aged between 12 and 17 — that reveals a chilling evolution in modern extremism.

All of the subjects were male, and every single one was radicalised all or in part online.

While violent jihadism remained the most prevalent belief system, it was closely followed by anti-authority and white supremacist ideologies, with an increasing number of boys displaying no clear ideology at all.

"The ideological presentation in youths has shifted over the past two years, with fewer presenting with clearly defined ideologies, and an increasing number having mixed/hybrid ideologies, unclear/ incoherent ideologies, a superficial understanding of ideologies and ideological fluidity," she said.

The data shatters long-held intelligence assumptions that youth extremism is confined to broken homes, revealing that boys from stable families with secure parental bonds are increasingly being weaponised by digital algorithms.

While more than one-quarter did not have a stable male role model and about one-third had witnessed or experienced violence from their caregivers, Commissioner Barrett said there "were also youth cases where there was a secure bond to one or both caregivers."

Commissioner Barrett did point to some clear warning signs among the cohort, including 13 per cent being suspended or expelled in primary school, with more than a third kicked-out from high school.

"In three out of five cases, the youths had received support, treatment or intervention for a mental health condition," she said.

She also warned presentations were not clear-cut and increasingly complex, with "no single profile of a radicalised young person and no one pathway to violent extremism."

She said she hoped the study would help the federal police and policy makers intervene earlier to prevent youth offending.

In the wake of last week's attack on independent MP Helen Haines, Commissioner Barrett revealed the AFP handled nearly 800 protective security reports targeting parliamentarians in the first six months of the year.

She warned basic policy debate is increasingly triggering direct threats against politicians.

"At times there is an almost immediate link from a policy announcement or comment, to a threat being sent," Commissioner Barrett said.

"It would be wrong to think only inflammatory comments are creating the flood of threats. In some cases, just the debate causes the hate."

Detailing the drivers behind the harassment, the commissioner said AFP caseloads showed hostility is typically triggered by four factors: policy, perceived performance, profile, and personality.

"In some cases, parliamentarians are being targeted because of their accent, what they look like, or their political party," she said.

The evidence presented to the committee exposed a stark gender divide in the abuse directed at elected officials with female parliamentarians three times more likely than their male colleagues to receive sexualised or gender-based threats.

That toll is highest for female MPs from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, who report the most frequent and varied attacks.

Male parliamentarians are also subject to gender-based abuse, with Commissioner Barrett noting that threats directed at men frequently rely on "accusations of weakness, femininity or subordinate masculine traits."

Facing pressure from MPs and senators over the adequacy of current protection measures, Commissioner Barrett acknowledged the AFP needed to "do better" in demonstrating how seriously threats are managed.

She committed to implementing more consistent officer training and confirmed she would raise parliamentarian security at an upcoming meeting with state and territory police commissioners.

The surge in threats against politicians is unfolding against a broader, more alarming shift across Australian society, one Commissioner Barrett warned is driven by an "instant pipeline" of digital hostility home-delivered into everyday lives.

"The threats are instant and voluminous. And they instantly shock and cause legitimate fear," she said.

Pointing to a dangerous convergence between digital platforms, social hostility, and ideological obsession, the commissioner warned that online abuse is spilling into physical violence.

"The contagion of online hate has breached the digital compound and is spilling into the physical world. This is corroding our communities and has normalised violence — and it continues to impact on many, most notably, the Jewish community," she said.

Crucially, Commissioner Barrett warned that hyper-connectivity and artificial intelligence have erased the geographic isolation that historically shielded Australia from global threats.

"Across the world, we are witnessing a trend where violence emerges with little or no warning, particularly where individuals do not have a protection intelligence footprint," she said.

"Lone actors are being motivated by a convergence of personal grievance, mental health vulnerabilities and ideological concerns. What helped keep us safe in recent times, such as our geography, analogue systems and far away criminals, has been impacted by fully-integrated technology, social media and artificial intelligence."