Australian authorities need more access to encrypted messages, rightwing extremism inquiry says

A parliamentary committee into rightwing extremism has recommended law enforcement agencies get greater powers to access encrypted messages in national security incidents – despite Asio boss Mike Burgess saying earlier this year he was “not asking for new laws” to address that issue.

The inquiry also recommended the government investigate how gaming platforms and social media are used to recruit young people to radical causes. It came the day after Asio and Australian federal police warned that a “shocking” numbers of their priority cases involve young people.

The year-long Senate inquiry into rightwing extremist movements in Australia reported on Friday that violent extremism was “a growing global concern”, warning of an “acceleration” partly fuelled by digital connectivity.

Though the committee was charged to investigate “rightwing extremism”, with particular focus on the Australian-born gunman behind the March 2019 Christchurch terror attack, Australian security authorities do not use that term widely.

Rather than right- or leftwing terror, Asio instead refers to politically motivated violence, religiously motivated violent extremism or ideologically motivated violent extremism. Asio said it was “neither helpful nor accurate to assign these individuals a place on the political spectrum”.

The committee made six recommendations, including calls for the government to regularly evaluate local deradicalisation programs, a national hate crime database, a national framework to deter young people from extremism and for the eSafety commissioner to verify whether social media platforms are explicitly outlawing hate content.

It recommended the government consider legislation to “enable Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access encrypted communications if there is a well-founded threat to national security and a warrant has been issued by a judicial officer to access those communications”.

Australian officials have had powers since 2018 to request tech companies to help break encryption, to use compulsory powers to demand they assist, or even to build new capability to do so. At an April address to the National Press Club, Asio’s Burgess and the AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, urged tech companies to be more forthcoming with assistance on voluntary requests, saying encrypted communications were widely used by extremist groups and presented a major challenge.

But while authorities had issued 66 technical assistance requests (the voluntary requests) in the previous financial year, there had at the time been only one use of the compulsory powers.

The two law enforcement heads then admitted the processes were easier with tech companies’ voluntary support. “We need their help,” Burgess said. But despite the committee recommending new laws, Burgess said he was “not asking” for them.

“I am not asking the government to do anything. I am asking the tech companies to do more,” he said in April. “I’m asking them to give effect to the existing powers and to uphold existing laws.”

The committee’s Friday report recommended government research into online extremism, including radicalisation on social media and gaming platforms.

It stressed the overwhelming majority of gamers were not susceptible to radicalisation, but flagged evidence from the home affairs department and AFP that gaming platforms were being used as a recruitment ground – a former American white supremacist claimed extremists targeted “marginalised youth” on games such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Call of Duty. Extremists could use in-game chat functions or adjacent platforms such as live-streaming site Twitch in recruitment, the committee heard.

Anthony Albanese told a Friday press conference the overnight warning from Asio and the AFP about young offenders was “of concern”.

“The problem with radicalisation online is … it can happen in privacy … and we have seen, tragically, the impact of that,” the prime minister said.

Greens senator and committee member Mehreen Faruqi called the report a missed opportunity, saying it didn’t do enough to address core issues at the heart of extremism.

“Solutions to far-right extremism cannot overlook the racism, discrimination and dehumanisation that is perpetrated by politicians and media which harms marginalised communities,” she said.

Faruqi repeated previous calls to mandate anti-racism training for all federal politicians and staff, a federal anti-racism portfolio, and more funding for the National Anti-Racism Framework.

Experts told the committee rightwing extremist groups were being fuelled by rising economic inequality and anti-elite and anti-immigration sentiments. Others raised loneliness, social isolation, disconnection and mental health issues as contributing to radicalisation.

The report noted Burgess’s 2021 observation that social isolation brought about by Covid-era lockdown restrictions “contributed to an increase in exposure to radical ideas”.