Greens want to counter extremism among youth using outreach body

Australians at risk of disengaging from the mainstream and becoming attracted to violent extremism would be targeted by a new national outreach body under a proposal suggested by the Greens.

The party plans to present legislation to parliament to create what it has called the Australian Centre for Social Cohesion. This body would oversee preventative programs to address social exclusion and stop young people from becoming radicalised.

The Greens have strongly criticised the Abbott government’s “extreme” measures toughening anti-terrorism laws and the decision to commit to military action against Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq.

On Saturday the Greens leader, Christine Milne, published her proposal to promote social cohesion, arguing the new centre could take early steps to assist people who might otherwise be vulnerable to extremism.

She said the government’s priorities were wrong because just $13.4m of the $630m security funding package announced in August was allocated to programs to counter extremism.

Milne said young people who were feeling alienated might be attracted to “gangs, crime, jihadism or any number of behaviours which are highly destructive of them personally and also of our social fabric”.

“What we need is a centre that reaches out, works with the policing agencies, works with community leaders, works with government agencies to make sure that we identify young people who are feeling disengaged, feeling angry, who are vulnerable to anti-social behaviour of all kinds,” she said.

“It’s a centre for social cohesion: it applies across the board.”

The centre would focus on early intervention and individual and community engagement, according to a policy paper issued by the Greens. It would bring together experts to share their knowledge, foster dialogue about violent extremism, and design and implement community programs after thorough consultation.

The federal government is moving to give police and intelligence agencies more powers, including changes to search warrant processes and new provisions against terrorism advocacy.

The prime minister, Tony Abbott, has emphasised the domestic security risk posed by citizens who travel to Iraq and Syria to join groups like Isis and later seek to return to Australia.

Terrorism was one of the topics discussed at the Council of Australian Governments (Coag) meeting in Canberra on Friday, with several premiers affirming the importance of reaching out to disengaged Australians.

Abbott said he expected state parliaments to mirror the federal government’s new counter-terrorism measures, in a similar way to the harmonisation approach taken after the Howard government’s security reforms.