“Every jurisdiction has to be on this. This toxic sewer that our children are seeing on a regular basis, we have to stop it.”
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil told Seven’s Sunrise the government is seeing a “concerning trend” in terrorism sparked by online radicalisation.
Parts of the campus were blocked off by police.Credit: Janie Barrett
“These are global trends we’re seeing a proliferation of ideologies that are driving people to violence … we’re seeing this really concerning presentation of young people in a cohort, which I know for the community is particularly disturbing and I don’t think we should also gloss over the fact that technology and social media are pivotal to these recent events,” she said.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton on Tuesday said the teen’s ideology would likely be classed as “mixed and unclear”, and a “salad bar of ideologies”.
“A lot of these vulnerable people, they’re not linked to one particular ideology, they will move as they’re exposed to different things,” he said on Tuesday.
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“It might be of white supremacist neo-Nazi, it can easily flip into a religious ideation, it’s a very complex environment that some of these vulnerable people are engaged in, not a linear position.
“The internet is a toxic environment for some people. How that’s managed is above my pay grade, but I really think we should be investing in trying to make it a safer environment for all citizens, but particularly young people.”
Police allege the 14-year-old, who lives in Sydney’s inner west, was wearing camouflage gear when he stabbed the student at the Ross Street gate near Parramatta Road.
In CCTV footage captured from a nearby shop, a person matching his description was seen walking past shortly after the alleged stabbing, nursing what appeared to be an injured hand.
A passerby, concerned for the teen’s welfare, took him to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where he was arrested.
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