.....are terrorists (title not fitting)

Just when you thought the Australian government couldn’t be more out of touch with young people, music, and just about everything and everyone else, they go ahead and outdo themselves in the most cartoonish and extreme (no pun intended) way possible.

The Aussie government has used an environmental activist who becomes involved in the “alternative music scene” as an example of violent extremism in a booklet designed to help teachers identify students who are becoming radicalised, The Guardian reports.

The Radicalisation Awareness Kit (yes, that’s really what it’s called) was launched this week by Michael Keenan, justice minister and the minister assisting our PM on counter-terrorism, to help teachers look out for signs of radicalisation in their pupils.


The booklet, an excerpt of which you can read below, warns teachers that people can be drawn to violent extremism by specific ideologies such as “environmental or economic concerns, or ethnic or separatist causes”. And apparently, music ain’t helping either.


The booklet goes on to present the fictitious case study of “Karen”, a sweet lass who grew up “in a loving family who never participated in activism of any sort” until she got to uni and went through a “typical teenage rebellion that went further than most”.

Yes, Karen became involved in the “alternative music scene, student politics and leftwing activism”. Armed with a taste for music outside the mainstream, Karen disassociates from her friends and family and goes on to become an eco-terrorist.

If you think we’re making that up, we assure you we wish we were. The whole thing recalls an incident some months back when the government claimed in another fictitious bio that your average independent Aussie muso makes over $300k a year.

Speaking to the ABC, Jonathan La Nauze of the Australian Conservation Foundation said the booklet was misleading and potentially dangerous. “It sounds like something that’s been dreamt up in the cigar room of the Institute of Public Affairs,” he said.

“There’s no resemblance to the way that people in Australia feel about their environment and the need to stand up to protect it.” Mr La Nauze said the booklet was “very disappointing”, a sentiment being echoed around the Tone Deaf office.

Teachers aren’t loving it either. Maurie Mulheron, president of the NSW Teachers’ Federation, told the ABC Radicalisation Awareness Kit is little more than fear mongering, describing it as “a fairly cynical move by the Federal Government”.

“I’m very doubtful that the Federal Government has pure motives in this area,” she added. “They’ve got a track record now of trying to engender division within the community on these issues and I don’t think that what they’re proposing will make one iota of difference.”

Meanwhile, the hashtag #FreeKaren has been bouncing around Twitter, with the ABC Environment account tweeting, “There’s some real LOLs to be had with #freekaren. People are having a field day.” Check out the field day below.