Willetton stabbing: Terrorism expert Greg Barton expects authorities to declare a terror incident

A terrorism expert says he expects the stabbing of an innocent bystander by a radicalised teenager who was shot dead by police at the weekend will be declared a terror incident.

Deakin University professor of global Islamic politics Greg Barton said based on current knowledge of the attack, the 16-year-old’s use of violence to advance a religious or ideological cause “fits the textbook definition” of terrorism.

In his final message, before he stabbed a stranger and then charged at three police officers in a Bunnings carpark in Willetton on Saturday night, the boy warned his friends he was “going on the path of jihad tonight for the sake of Allah”.

“I am a soldier of the mujahideen of Al-Qaeda and take responsibility for the actions that will ... take place tonight,” his chilling message said, even though he had been in a deradicalisation program for two years.

WA’s top cop Col Blanch has also said the attack “met the definition of a terrorist act” — but so far he has refused to officially designate it as such because emergency powers given to police under those circumstances were not required.

Professor Barton said WA Police could afford to take the time to defuse tensions because there was no immediate threat from anyone else. But because of national protocols, he believed police would have to declare the incident as terrorism eventually.

“I would be surprised if this is not the case,” he said. “But acknowledge there is a possibility that a review of what is known about the individual’s mental health issues might lead to the incident being framed differently.”

Professor Barton said the teenager — whom The West is identifying as James — may have been groomed by people “half a planet away”.

“This, I think, eventually will be classified terrorism because of the political ideology and the Al-Qaeda fixation,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean there was no mental health issue and it doesn’t mean there’s no suicidal ideation issue.

“I think something to try and wrestle with here is, he saw himself as becoming a martyr, he must have known that he was likely to be shot by police.”

James was reportedly a Muslim convert but not associated with any major mosque, prompting Professor Barton to speculate he had not been drawn to the Islamic religion, but to the “bad-ass, Al-Qaeda end of the spectrum”.

“So I think the attraction was not religion, but extremism,” he said. “Radicalisation is a social process. It involves joining a group, feeling of belonging and identifying with the ideas of that group. And that very often involves predatory behaviour, somebody grooming. It’s not a passive, solitary thing.“

People with vulnerabilities — such as mental health issues — were more at risk of “predatory recruitment”.

Professor Barton, who appeared as an expert witness at the inquest into the 2014 Lindt Cafe siege — where lone gunman Man Haron Monis held 18 hostages at gunpoint for 16 hours — said other experts argued that was not terrorism because the attacker was mentally unwell.

But the NSW Coroner found that the siege — which ended with the death of Monis and two hostages — was a terrorist incident.

“Just because you’ve got other risk factors — like mental health — doesn’t mean that it can’t also be terrorism,” Professor Barton said.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said this week young people with “different disorders” were most vulnerable to online radicalisation.

“Since July 2021, we’ve had more than 20 individuals that were 17 years old or younger — so that is a concern to us — and the youngest being 11 years old,” he told Radio 2GB on Tuesday.

“So we are looking at this and working with all the agencies ... to try and stop this from happening.”