Government and law enforcement authorities have failed to win the “hearts and minds” of Muslim Australians with a landmark survey finding that 21 per cent think terrorists have legitimate grievances.
New counter-terrorism laws and police operations risk becoming counter-productive because they have “over-reached” and have created a “siege mentality”, researchers found.
The nation-wide study, a government-funded Australian Research Council Discovery project, is the first to quantify the consequences of Australia’s fight against terrorism for Muslim communities.
Dr Adrian Cherney, from the University of Queensland, and Associate Professor Kristina Murphy, from Griffith University, surveyed 800 Muslims between June and August and conducted 14 focus groups across Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. They will present their full report next year.
Early findings revealed that counter-terrorism policy has become “over-reach” because the majority of Muslim Australians feel they are being unfairly targeted.
This was breeding anger, backlash, distrust and a siege mentality, Dr Cherney said.
“It’s one of the real conundrums of counter-terrorism that the very act of trying to protect against terrorism can generate this counter-productive response that can undermine the aims,” he said.
"[Over-reach] is an inevitable, unfortunate outcome but what we need to be mindful of is trying to minimise it as much as possible.”
Dr Cherney said many respondents felt vilified and 21 per cent believed terrorists had valid grievances.
“One way to look at it is they agree with the narrative that is being propagated by terrorist groups particularly around the victimisation and persecution of Muslims,” he said.
“There is a really strong narrative that groups like [Islamic State] and Al-Qaeda use to recruit young Muslims: that you are a victimised minority. Then they weave that with arguments around religion and Islam and it gains traction. For young men in particular that then makes them very susceptible [to] radicalisation. The challenge is trying to produce a counter-narrative.”
Community activist Rebecca Kay said she was not surprised that such a significant proportion of Muslims thought terrorists had legitimate grievances.
“Without sounding radical, we have to stop thinking that terrorism is caused by ideology and start acknowledging that terrorism is caused by politics,” she said. “The government approach is making things worse.”
More than 60 Muslim community organisations and individuals recently signed a statement saying counter-terrorism laws in Australia had become unjust, unjustified and “blown out of all proportion”.
The laws include softening the definition of terrorism and making it easier to detain and question suspects returning from overseas.
It preceded sweeping anti-terrorism raids in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and the shooting death of an 18-year-old terrorism suspect, Numan Haider.
Dr Cherney and Professor Murphy found that 74 per cent of respondents agreed with counter-terrorism laws but 74 per cent also thought the current laws unfairly targeted Muslims.
“The problem with them is the issue of how they are applied,” he said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has repeatedly assured the public that counter-terrorism laws don’t target particular communities.
Dr Cherney said such statements, including Mr Abbott’s call for Islamic leaders to be on “Team Australia”, were underpinned by good intention but they were not being interpreted that way by Muslims.
He said 21 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that terrorists have valid grievances.