Queensland shooting not classified as terrorism by police

Police investigating last week's shooting in Wieambilla, Queensland, Australia have resisted classifying the attack as terrorism.

The decision has been questioned by experts, whilst there is evidence that the shooters had been inspired by fundamentalist Christianity and conspiracy theories, with one of the attackers posting online about fundamental Christianity and the sovereign citizen movement.

Queensland deputy police commissioner Tracy Linford said that the attack was not being deemed an act of domestic terror as there was no evidence of a connection to any “particular group”.

Linford said: “We are certainly not classing it as a domestic terror event. At this point there’s nothing really to indicate that."

“What we can see is sentiment displayed by the three individuals – the three Train family members – that appears anti-government, anti-police, conspiracy theorist-type things.

“But we can’t see them connected to any particular group that they might have been working with or inspired them to do anything. We haven’t located anything like that at this point in time.”

According to Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, an associate professor at the University of Queensland who specialises in national security law, there was “no doubt” the shootings could be classified as terrorism. Speaking to the Guardian, she said: “It certainly doesn’t look good if Australia continues to label every act of violence by a Muslim actor as terror and all of the rightwing extremism, which we are seeing rising and seeing more warnings about from Asio, as murder or just regular crime.”

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