Countering violent extremism: how Australia fares

Programs designed to address violent extremism in Australia are largely effective, according to a University of Queensland expert.

Criminologist Professor Adrian Cherney said the programs used to prevent, identify and respond to radicalisation in Australia were well-designed, evidence-based and broadly aligned with international best practice.

“There is now a well-established infrastructure of programs that operate across social work, youth justice, corrections and law enforcement,” Professor Cherney said.

“They won’t be 100 per cent effective, but for the most part they are capable of responding to a broad range of risks.”

Professor Cherney recently gave expert assistance at the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in Sydney. 

He said there was no single pathway to violent extremism. 

“It can emerge through a complex interaction of personal grievances, social influences, radicalised networks, online exposure, criminal history and other vulnerabilities,” he said.

“The most effective approach to countering it is also multi-layered.

“It involves rigorous assessment, tailored interventions, ongoing case management, continuous monitoring, and collaboration between agencies.” 

Professor Cherney co-authored a study with Dr Steve Barracosa from Youth Justice New South Wales, looking at a widely used tool assessing risk factors. 

“We examined how Violent Extremism Risk Assessment Version 2 Revised (VERA-2R) worked with a group of 16 young Australians under the age of 18 who had been referred to countering violent extremism programs,” he said.

“We found it was able to distinguish young people who had progressed to violent extremism from those who held extremist beliefs but had not engaged in or supported violence. 

“Indicators such as commitment to a violent ideology, feelings of grievance and injustice, identification of potential targets, planning behaviours and expressed intentions to commit violence were useful in identifying higher-risk youth.”

Professor Cherney said there were opportunities to further strengthen Australia’s approach to countering violent extremism.

“These include a nationally consistent measure of client progress, stronger evaluation frameworks, improved data collection and outcome monitoring,” he said. 

“I would also recommend better safeguards against ‘disguised compliance’, where individuals may appear cooperative without genuine behavioural change.

“But overall, Australia’s framework has been effective in violent extremism risk reduction, rehabilitation and reintegration.”

Research on VERA-2R was published in The Journal for Deradicalization.