Police Commissioner Col Blanch urges parents to watch what children consume online after terror threat raised

WA’s top cop has urged parents and teachers to look closely at what young people are consuming online amid concerns younger generations are subscribing to “mixed” ideologies. It comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised Australia’s terror threat level from “possible” to probable” on Monday. Security authorities believe the chances of a violent extremist act are now more likely than when authorities lowered the alert level to “possible” in November 2022. Speaking on morning radio, Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the announcement partly related to concerns that young people were increasingly consuming content from all sides of the ideological spectrum. “It’s not an increase in the number of, it’s the change of demographics,” he said. “It’s more young people and it’s more radicalisation online, and also it’s mixed ideology. “They watch videos of different things, and then, you know, they’re not fixated on one particular thing. “They can switch quite quickly. One minute you might have far right and then far left, all different sorts of things. It’s just what they see online and then they try to emulate it.” He said the major risks lay in troubled individuals who may arm themselves with a weapon and commit less organised crimes. “The risk with that is, it’s low-tech. It’s using an edged weapon. It’s going out just being angry and you might have some mental illnesses, and it’s quite a risky proposition, but it’s very confined and siloed. “And it’s not like the terrorist acts that we saw around the world that are much larger in scale and organized.” Commissioner Blanch said parents and teachers played a major role in detecting risky behaviours and content early. “It is in recognition of an increase we are seeing in radicalisation of different ideologies, particularly by young people, particularly online,” he said. “So it’s more for our community to say, be more aware. “Have a look at what your kids are looking at online. If you’re seeing strange behaviour and for teachers at school, it’s about that self-awareness. “It’s not about alarm. It’s not about fear. Let’s just look a little bit more, particularly around young people and what they’re doing online because I think that’s why it’s being changed. “Well, I don’t think’, I know that’s why it’s changed.”