The Australian government has used an environmental activist who became involved in the “alternative music scene” as an example of violent extremism, in a booklet aimed at helping teachers identify students who are becoming radicalised and linked to terrorism.

The Radicalisation Awareness Kit was launched this week by Michael Keenan, the justice minister and minister assisting the prime minister on counter-terrorism, to help teachers look out for signs of radicalisation in their students.

The booklet warns that people can become motivated to be violent by particular ideologies such as “environmental or economic concerns, or ethnic or separatist causes”.

“People can also be motivated by more than one issue. What is common across all types of violent extremism is intolerance and hatred for other points of view,” the booklet says.

After warning that violent extremists in Australia are often motivated by political beliefs, it uses the case study of “Karen”, who grew up “in a loving family who never participated in activism of any sort”.



It details how she left home to go to university and went through a “typical teenage rebellion that went further than most” by becoming involved in “alternative music scene, student politics and leftwing activism”.

After attending an environmental protest, Karen felt like she was doing the “right thing” for society, according to the case study.

“Over the next six months Karen progressively dropped out of university in order to live full-time in a forest camp, where she remained for a year. Her family were confused and disappointed and stopped supporting her financially,” the booklet says.

“The goal of the forest camp was to disrupt logging activities by barricading areas that were being logged, spiking trees, and sabotaging machinery. There was no intent to harm people but inevitably fighting broke out between protesters and loggers. Sometimes the locals and the police became involved in these incidents.

Karen was arrested on numerous occasions for trespass, damaging property, assault and obstructing police. She said at the time she felt like she was a ‘soldier for the environment, so breaking the law didn’t matter’.”

“Karen” becomes totally cut off from her family and set of friends because of her environmental activism. Eventually she becomes disillusioned by the infighting in the group and starts to question the effectiveness of the protest methods.

“She took a paid job with a mainstream environmentalist organisation and was subsequently rejected by her group who felt completely betrayed,” the case study says.



“This was the beginning of a painful transition out of radical activism, where Karen struggled to recover, define her identity and her role in society. Over the course of a number of years she began making new friends, trying out new interests, and hobbies and eventually made contact with her family and non-activist friends again. She completed her university studies and now works broadly in the environmental field.”

The case study ends with Karen adopting a “more moderate eco-philosophy”.

The booklet also carries a case study of “Erin”, who becomes involved in a nationalist group which participates in hate crimes against immigrants and Muslims, and a real-life case of an Australian who published a 110-page booklet on the internet outlining potential methods to assassinate members of governments from America, England, Canada and Australia.

In the release launching the kit, Keenan said the potential radicalisation of young Australians to violent extremism was something the government was “deeply concerned” about.

“School communities are an important part of governments’ efforts to support vulnerable youth and address radicalisation to violent extremism,” the release says.



“The first step is to help schools understand what radicalisation is and what it is not. The government continues to work with all states and territories to support our young people in schools and assess what further work is needed to ensure we keep our young people safe from the influence of violent extremism.”

Experts and community leaders warned teachers against “jumping to conclusions” after reading the kit earlier in the week, saying Australia could have a case similar to that of Muslim teenager Ahmed Mohamed, who was arrested last week in Texas for building a “hoax bomb” which was actually a homemade clock.