A young Queensland man is set to spend at least a month behind bars for allegedly having “violent extremist” videos on his mobile phone.
The 25-year-old appeared in Caboolture Magistrates Court on Friday charged with charged with one count of “possessing or controlling violent extremist material obtained or accessed using a carriage service” and was refused bail.
He will face court again on March 6, and faces a maximum five years’ imprisonment if convicted.
The Australian Federal Police said the man was first investigated in May, 2024, when Australian Border Force officers intercepted a package containing Nazi flags ordered from overseas.
The AFP then went to his home and “provided him with a factsheet relating to the illegal public display of Nazi symbols”.
Then when the man flew into Brisbane International Airport ABF officers flagged him for a baggage and digital device examination, identified alleged violent extremist material on his phone, and referred the matter to the AFP, which examined the material and seized the phone.
The AFP alleges more violent extremist material was later found on the phone, “including edited first-person videos of international mass shootings and other files containing serious violence”.
An AFP National Security Investigations (NSI) team then raided a property in Morayfield on Thursday and arrested the man.
The NSI teams were set up by Commissioner Krissy Barrett in October last year to “target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion”.
NSI teams carried out a series of similar highly publicised raids, including one targeting nationalist political prisoner Joel Davis for an alleged social media post, in November and early December, while the Bondi Islamic terrorists were preparing for their attack that left 15 dead.
A week after the massacre Ms Barrett and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced extra funding to double number of NSI teams and lower the threshold for “hate speech” lowered, and Ms Barrett said the teams had received “extra training in anti-Semitism”.
“Essentially, the National Security Investigations teams are a flying squad of hate disruptors who focus on high harm, high impact, politically motivated violence, communal violence and hate crimes that don’t meet the threshold for terrorism investigations, but that we know drive fear and division,” she said at the time.
“The announcement today to boost the numbers of our hate disruptors as well as planned changes to lower the threshold for hate speech will make it easier for the AFP to take action quicker. It could be the difference between us just knocking on a door to warn an individual, to an individual being placed in handcuffs.”
Header image: Left, right, the man being arrested on Thursday (AFP).
