AUSTRALIA: After 16-year-old austistic boy is shot by police, experts call for shift in Australia CVE programmes

Experts and families are warning that the current system to intervene and rehabilitate people who have joined extremist groups is flawed, putting Australians at risk.

There’s concern that too much focus is put into policing and not enough into prevention.

Figures obtained by Four Corners show that only six people have been referred to a federally funded intervention program via the National Security Hotline since July 2023. The hotline is the country’s main tool for reporting extremists.

Australia CVE programmes are run by state and territory police and governments, overseen by a federal government strategy.

But many families have told Four Corners they are reluctant to report their loved ones to authorities.

Getting access to an intervention program doesn’t guarantee a good outcome.

James Hollands (pictured) was in a police-run CVE programme in Perth for two years. He had researched the far-right and fixated on different ideologies.

Then, in May last year, the 16-year-old stabbed a man in a Bunnings car park.

Police shot James dead minutes later.

James’s father told Four Corners his son was autistic, but it had been difficult to get a diagnosis or mental health support when he was younger.

The teenager had researched the far-right and fixated on different ideologies like communism and radical Islam.

The Western Australia CVE programme is being reviewed in the wake of James’s death.

John Lehane, a police officer for 40 years, oversaw the Western Australia CVE programmes when James joined it.

While he can’t comment on that case, he said mental illness is a major factor among extremists.

He has now broken ranks with the police force, calling for health departments, not police, to lead Australia CVE programmes.

“Police are very good at investigating [and] identifying crimes … But what I have found is that in most of the programmes, the clients that are being dealt with have a lot of psychological and socio-economic issues,” Lehane said.

“You need psychologists and psychiatrists and the health system to help these individuals.

Read full story on ABC’s Four Corners.