'They're just ticking over': ASIO boss reveals fewer

Australians are now joining ISIS after a rapid

increase last year
dailymail.co.uk /news/article-3101038/They-just-ticking-ASIO-boss-reveals-fewer-Australiansjoining-ISIS-rapid-increase-year.html
The rate at which Australians are joining Islamic State has slowed
At least 24 Australians has been killed in the conflict so far
Passports of 114 Australians had been cancelled in relation to the conflict
Family of Australian ISIS fighter Khaled Sharrouf want to return to Australia
Aussie jihadists have approached the federal government in a bid to return
By Tina Brodal For Daily Mail Australia
Published: 10:44 EST, 28 May 2015 | Updated: 13:17 EST, 28 May 2015
Fewer Australians are joining Islamic State the head of the nation's top spy agency has revealed.
Despite the rapid increase of Australians joining the Islamist militant group last year, the rate has now
slowed down.
Duncan Lewis, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, told a Senate
hearing that there was a 'fairly brisk increase' last year in the number of people wanting to join the
terror group but that the number was now 'going up very slowly'.
Australia's intelligence agency has revealed that the rate at which Australians are joining ISIS has
slowed
'They're just ticking over but increasing in very small numbers,' Mr Lewis said on Thursday evening.
'It is going up but it's a very gentle rise.'
About 100 Australians are currently involved in the conflict, however the increase in numbers did not
represent 'a net increase of exodus from Australia'.
Mr Lewis could confirm that at least 24 Australian had been killed in the conflict so far.
'I am unable to confirm more than 24 at this point but I'm confident there are actually more,' he said.
Mr Lewis also told the hearing that the passports of 114 Australians had been cancelled in relation to
the conflict; 67 were still in Australia and 47 which had already travelled to the Middle East.
It has been disclosed that between 30 and 40 Australian women - some in the Middle East and some in
Australia - are supportive of Islamic State, including by way of recruiting and fundraising.
Between 30 and 40 Australian women are supportive of Islamic State by way of recruiting and
fundraising
About 100 Australians are currently involved and least 24 Australian had been killed in the conflict so
far
Mr Lewis said that about 30 Australians that were fighting on both sides in Syria prior to the declaration

of the caliphate and before Islamic State became a recognised entity have already returned home, but
represented a different threat than the current crop.
'It is my view that the political agenda, if you like, that surrounded that particular group is very different,
the motivations are very different than what we face today.'
Measures aimed at countering violent extremism were critical in the combat against the current
terrorism threat, Mr Lewis said in the Senate hearing.
This follows reports that the wife and children of notorious Australian Islamic State fighter Khaled
Sharrouf are trying to come home.
It is believed that the family of Sharrouf, one of Australia's most wanted terrorists, wish to return to
Australia due to poor living conditions in Syria.
There were shockwaves around the world last year when a photo was posted on Facebook of
Sharrouf's seven-year-old son holding a decapitated head in Syria.
Earlier this month, legal representatives for three men currently in Syria approached the federal
government seeking information about penalties they may face upon their return to Australia.
'We are not in a position on the security side of the house to arrest our way to success, if that's a way
of expressing it,' he said.
'The secret to resolving this problem, which is a whole of society problem, lies in the issue of
community cohesion and countering violent extremism.'
Australian Islamic State fighter Khaled Sharrouf has posted controversial photos with his sons on
Social Media
Khaled Sharrouf would face certain prosecutions and a lengthy jail sentence if he return to Australia

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