This stuff really bothers me.

I get market research surveys sent to me from time to time and recently was asked to participate in a survey for the Australian Government about what Australians think about reporting friends and family they suspect of being involved in pro-violence extremist groups. I participated out of curiosity and it became clear this was about far-right extremists, and it very much sounded like the federal government (Labor) is planning to run a public campaign encouraging people to get help for, or report, someone they know who has become involved in these groups. (Parts of the survey were basically workshopping ideas for good messaging they could use.)

I can’t see a political aspect to this, so I assume the Labor government genuinely sees this as a problem. There have also been reports recently in the media that the AFP and other agencies like Vic Pol are increasingly having to deal with far-right extremist threats. There’s a suggestion the authorities aren’t publicly acknowledging how large the problem is (probably for good reason). All of this & especially the government survey I did recently is a bit disturbing.