eSafety ‘saddened’ as court hears UK child killer searched Wakeley stabbing video

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Australia’s eSafety Commission has expressed “great sadness” at the link between a triple murder in the United Kingdom and a violent video of a stabbing in Wakeley, Sydney, it had tried to remove from the internet.

A Liverpool Court has heard British teenager Axel Rudakubana searched online for video of Sydney Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel being stabbed, about 40 minutes before he left home and went onto murder three young girls who were enjoying a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

The April stabbing at the Assyrian Orthodox Church, Christ The Good Shepherd Church, in Western Sydney, happened during a sermon being streamed online, and was labelled a “terrorist attack” by police.

Video of the stabbing was quickly removed from sites including Google, Microsoft, Snap, TikTok and later Meta after eSafety used Australian law to issue a take-down order on the basis it depicted a violent crime.

But Elon Musk’s X challenged that order in court, saying it was willing to geo-block the video in Australia but would not delete it, meaning it would remain accessible overseas or via a VPN. eSafety ultimately dropped its action.

In a statement to ABC News on Friday, a spokesperson for eSafety emphasised why it had tried to remove the video from websites.

“eSafety was guided by its mission to protect our community from harmful online material, including material that may severely traumatise, manipulate or radicalise vulnerable people, especially children and the young,” the spokesperson said.

“To be clear, the material in question was violent video of an attempted murder deemed an act of terror by the NSW Police Commissioner; not commentary, public debate or other posts about this event.

“Research and the experience of law enforcement in Australia and internationally has shown a clear link between extreme, graphic violent material and harm to children, not to mention instances of real-world violence or attempted violence.”

Terrorism review to begin soon

In light of Rudakubana’s murders, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said changing the definition of terrorism, so it captured lone killers with extreme individualised violence — even if it was not motivated by religion, politics, race or ideology — could help to stop other would-be killers.

Last year Australia’s Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM), Jake Blight, announced he would soon begin a review into terrorism, and specifically whether the current definition of what constituted a “terrorist act” under Australian law was “fit-for-purpose”.

“It is now nearly a quarter of a century since the terrible attacks of 9/11 which triggered the introduction of the terrorist offences in the Criminal Code and a range of new police and security agency powers,” Mr Blight wrote in the INSLM’s annual report.

“Those offences, and many police and security agency powers, turn on the definition of a ‘terrorist act’. Much has changed in the last 25 years, including the nature of some of the threats faced by Australia.”

The INSLM has confirmed to the ABC that the review is likely to start in mid-2025 once two other reviews are completed into special police warrants as well as espionage, foreign interference and sabotage offences in the Criminal Code.

In December, the Australian Federal Police expressed concern at the “increasing prevalence of young people accessing violent extremist material and propaganda online, leading to an increasing threat of youth radicalisation”.

Federal police revealed that between January 2020 and 18 December 2024, authorities had begun investigations and operational activity in relation to “37 individuals that were 17 years old or younger, with the youngest being 12 years old”.

Following last year’s attack on the bishop, ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess was asked why the incident was declared a terrorist incident, but the Bondi Junction stabbing attack days earlier was not.

“To call it a terrorist attack you need indications of, well, information or evidence that suggests actually the motivation was religiously motivated or ideologically motivated,” Mr Burgess explained, while pointing out the Church attacker did appear to have those motivations.

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