The Australian federal government led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has unveiled a $74 million investment to create a dedicated national hub focused on detecting and disrupting escalating online terror and violent extremism threats, with a particular focus on stopping the manipulation of vulnerable children and young people across the country.
Announced on Tuesday alongside harrowing new testimony before the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the two-year funding package will establish the Counter Terrorism Online Centre, a collaborative venture jointly operated by Australia’s top security agencies – the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The new unit will partner with domestic law enforcement teams and global counterparts to target bad actors operating in digital spaces, prioritizing groups and individuals that seek to radicalize impressionable young Australians.
Speaking on the announcement, Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke emphasized that the rate of online radicalization among Australian youth is growing at an alarming pace. “It happens fast,” Burke noted, pointing out that Australia already operates specialized centers for child protection and cybercrime response. Building a standalone institution focused on online violent extremism and terrorism, he argued, is the logical next step to address a rapidly evolving digital threat landscape.
Burke added that the new centre will expand the monitoring reach of security personnel into private digital spaces, including closed chatrooms where extremist recruitment often occurs. “A bolstered online threat capability will give AFP and ASIO the resources they need to target terrorists and violent extremists online,” he said.
The $74 million allocation for the centre forms part of a broader $80 million commitment for the 2026–27 fiscal year, all earmarked for boosting national online counter-terrorism capacity and preventing youth radicalization and violent extremism. Government officials have warned that violent extremists are increasingly radicalizing recruits via overlooked digital spaces, including mainstream online video game platforms and encrypted private chatrooms, out of view of traditional monitoring efforts.
Official data underscores the urgency of the initiative: over the past two years alone, 27 young Australians have been charged with offences related to violent extremist material, and 15 of those suspects were 17 years old or younger.
The announcement comes as the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, convened following the October 2024 Bondi Beach terror attack, continues to receive disturbing evidence from members of Australia’s Jewish community. In one shocking testimony, Joshua Gomperts, a St John Ambulance volunteer, told the inquiry that during a 2011 New Year’s Eve event, a firefighter pulled out a large hunting knife and told him, “I would skin you the way my family skinned yours in the camps.”
This new counter-terrorism investment marks one of the most significant Australian government policy shifts focused on domestic digital extremism in recent years, as authorities race to close gaps in monitoring and disruption of online threats targeting minors.