Prime Minister Scott Morrison has attacked the "lame excuse" of blaming mental health problems for Friday's horrific attack in Melbourne by Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, after the killer's family said he was "crying for help" and should not be the subject of a political game.

I think it really comes down to recognising factors that increases a person's susceptibility to violence and ideologies that encourage it and making reasonable efforts to stifle this progression with supportive interventions.

We can start by addressing vulnerabilities we know create a mindset of disenchantment and marginalisation, such as unemployment or underemployment, withdrawal from community, loss of income, unstable housing and food insecurity as well as increasingly negative public perception of culture the individual identifies with.

We should be calling out divisive sensationalism and populist policies for the bullshit they are. I'm honestly sick of hearing public opinion swayed so harshly and unjustly against valuable members of my community. This argument applies to faith denominations, migrants, welfare recipients, youth, baby boomers, working class.

/r/australia Thread Parent Link - theage.com.au