A proposal by the Islamic Council of Victoria to gather people with extreme views in a “safe space” to discuss their ideas has been dismissed as “troubling” by the premier, Daniel Andrews.
Last month, the council made a submission to the Senate inquiry into the human right to freedom of religion or belief that said federal funding was “urgently needed” to create safe space for Muslim youth to meet and talk about a range of issues “which in a public space would sound inflammatory”.
It was one of several proposals put forward by the council, with the submission also calling for a “review of all current policies for refugees detained on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru”.
However, the Herald Sun highlighted the safe spaces suggestion in an article on Thursday, prompting Andrews to condemn the proposal at a press conference to update media on security measures following the siege in Brighton.
“We’ve had a constructive relationship with the Islamic Council of Victoria but ... proposing to create a space where people can just rant ... this is a hate space,” he said. “The notion you can safely, without being monitored, without being picked up by authorities, be involved in all the radicalisation we’re trying to diffuse makes no sense to me”.
He said the Victorian government would not be providing funding for such an initiative. But the council had only asked the federal government for funding in its submission.
But counter-terrorism expert Prof Greg Barton said the council’s suggestion was not necessarily a bad one and would depend on how it was set up.
“There is merit in the idea of safe spaces to talk about ideas otherwise regarded as too dangerous but of course that shouldn’t be done in an unregulated fashion,” Barton said. “Of course having a police presence there would defeat the purpose but you could have people on hand with some authority and expertise gently speak to people about these alternative positions.
“It’s not necessarily a crazy proposal. It’s interesting that Mr Andrews is feeling so antagonistic about it. Some people will be very hard to reach, like the Yacqub Khayres of this world, but there are other, non-violent young people very confused, genuinely confused, who will be susceptible to anyone who gives them time and that’s where we should have been investing in clever ways for them to discuss their ideas in a safe space.”
Andrews also said on Friday that security across Melbourne would be increased across the Queen’s birthday long weekend following the actions of Khayre on Monday that saw apartment receptionist Kai Hao shot dead and three police officers shot and injured.
He said he would be making a number of suggestions to a meeting of Coag leaders on Friday including having a federal police presence at airports at all times.
“Tullamarine airport, Avalon airport, these are federal assets and I think the time has come for us to have a dedicated 24/7 tactical response provided by the Australian federal police,” he said.
“When you think about, across the world, airports have so often been the target and we need to take that next step and I look forward to the prime minister and federal government responding positively.”
He will also call for technology that would block mobile phone reception at sports stadiums and other major venues in the event of a terrorist attack to help direct the public in such a situation.
“There are ways in which we can disable the mobile phone network and then provide one point of information – perhaps if it’s at a sporting venue, on the large electronic scoreboard – that guides people on how to evacuate, guides people on how to avoid stampedes, if you like, crushes, all of those sorts of things,” he said. “That technology is something that we should roll out across the country.”
