The personal standings of Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers have plunged to record lows, Labor’s primary vote is mired at its lowest ever and the party has lost its lead to rivals on every key issue except health, a new poll shows.
The latest The Australian Financial Review/RedBridge Group/Accent Research poll also shows economic management is starting to resonate with voters, jumping 7 percentage points in a month as an issue of concern to sit just outside the top five.

Chalmers reached his lowest ever favourability rating. Albanese is still the nation’s preferred prime minister, but by a dwindling margin.  Tim Beor
The monthly poll of 1000 voters was taken between Monday and Friday, encompassing a week in which new budget data and an interest rate rise put the spotlight on high government spending, while the Greens elected David Shoebridge as leader.
Although the primary vote for the major parties remains relatively stable, with One Nation poking its nose back ahead of Labor at 29 per cent to 28 per cent – the sixth lead change in six months – there are worrying lead indicators for the government.
Albanese’s net favourability rating, which is his favourability rating minus his unfavourability rating, plunged 10 points in a month to minus 27 per cent, his lowest rating ever and the same level as Peter Dutton recorded the day before the Coalition’s election thrashing in 2025.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ net favourability fell 9 points in a month to minus 23 per cent, his worst ever level. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson improved her net rating by 2 points to minus 10 per cent, while Coalition leader Angus Taylor’s net rating fell three points to minus 6 per cent.
Cabinet secretary Andrew Charlton, tipped as a future treasurer and even leader, dismissed a suggestion that Chalmers may have to be replaced in a pre-election reshuffle to salvage the government’s fortunes.

“No, Jim Chalmers is doing an extraordinary job in very difficult global circumstances,” he said.
Albanese is still the nation’s preferred prime minister, but by a dwindling margin. His rating was unchanged at 31 per cent, but Hanson lifted 2 points to 26 per cent, to trail the prime minister by just 5 points. Taylor was unchanged on 15 per cent.
The elevation of Shoebridge to the Greens leadership, after Larissa Waters stepped down due to ill-health, had no immediate real impact, with the party’s primary vote dipping 1 point to 11 per cent.

Based on asking poll respondents how they would direct their preference, Labor leads One Nation by 52 per cent to 48 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis, which is unchanged since last month.
But sharp falls in other indicators could herald a future fall in the vote.
“Labor’s vote share is back to its lowest recorded level. The current political challenge for Labor is that the cash register never lies and voters will rarely reward a government when they are feeling poorer,” said RedBridge director Tony Barry.

The issues that most concern voters are cost of living (73 per cent), healthcare (36 per cent), housing affordability (33 per cent), the rate of immigration (29 per cent), crime and public safety (24 per cent), economic management (21 per cent), government debt (14 per cent), climate change (13 per cent), national security (11 per cent) and tax reform (9 per cent).
But when it comes to which party is the best to handle each of these issues, Labor leads on just one – healthcare. One Nation leads on four of the top five – cost of living, housing affordability, immigration and crime – while the coalition leads on economic management, national security and tax reform.

As an issue of voter concern, economic management jumped from 14 per cent to 21 per cent in a month. In terms of which party is most trusted to handle the economy, Labor has dropped 4 points to 20 per cent, while the Coalition increased a point to 29 per cent and is now by far the most preferred economic manager. One Nation is on 16 per cent.
Last week, the final budget outcome for last financial yearconfirmed the government was the highest spending in 40 years and on track to become the highest-taxing government ever, the cash rate increased to 4.6 per cent with more to come, and inflation rose to 4 per cent.

A prominent One Nation Victorian candidate has threatened to jail former premiers Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan “by Christmas” if the insurgent right-wing party wins November’s state election.

The pledge by Mark Nicholson – mirroring Donald Trump’s promise to “lock up” Hillary Clinton – was met with rapturous applause by a crowd of about 750 party faithful at One Nation’s campaign launch at the Crown Conference Centre in Southbank on Saturday.

Party founder Pauline Hanson helped present the 112 candidates who will contest every lower house and upper house seat in the November 28 poll, while railing against the legacy of 12 years of Labor government.

A 63-page policy document, titled The Real Deal, outlines One Nation’s plan to make Victoria the toughest state on crime, repeal a raft of taxes, cancel the Suburban Rail Loop, rip up the Treaty with First Nations Victorians, and roll back renewable energy projects while lifting the state’s ban on nuclear power.

The party is yet to produce costings for any of its policies, as major parties typically do.

In a slickly produced event, One Nation’s leading candidates adopted a revolutionary tone.

Victorian leader Warren Pickering – who has long history of endorsing conspiracy theories and railing against the influence of foreign “globalists” – said the upcoming election was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the course of Australian politics.

“This is an opportunity to shake the established order to its core,” he said. “We are ready to take this state back and put it into the hands of those who built it. We must assume control of our own destiny here in Victoria.”

Nicholson, the creator of One Nation’s online cartoon series and their lead candidate for the Northern Metropolitan upper house region, said that “heads are going to roll” should the party win power, with fiery rhetoric that ignored the principle of judicial independence.

“Dan Andrews, Jacinta Allan – they’re going to be in prison by Christmas,” he said. “This is a revolution. This is a movement. And this is how, together, we can take Victoria back.”

Hanson meanwhile invoked the state’s history as a place of anti-government rebellion.

This is the state of Ned Kelly. This is the state of the Eureka Stockade, where the miners at Ballarat raised a flag, drew a line in the sand, and told the government, their government: enough,” she said.

In a speech laden with nostalgia for a bygone era, Hanson mourned the decline of Victoria’s manufacturing and automotive industries, drawing heavy applause.

“I remember how strong and prosperous Victoria once was,” she said. “But that was a long time ago.”

The latest Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Age, showed One Nation attracting 23 per cent of first preference votes in Victoria. Labor was polling at 25 per cent and the Coalition at 28 per cent.

If repeated on the November 28 election, that support would likely result in One Nation winning eight upper house seats – possibly giving it the balance of power – and potentially several lower house seats.

One Nation has only ever won one seat in Victoria’s parliament, with Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell currently representing the Northern Victoria upper house region.

Nicholson said the party was riding a national wave of support for One Nation, which started with its win in the Farrer byelection and continued with its performance in the South Australia state election.

“And now the orange wave is about to hit Victoria, which will reverberate across the country and build a tsunami that’s about to make its way to Canberra,” he said. “Folks, we’re taking over.”

One Nation merchandise on sale at the party’s campaign launch for the state election.Christopher Hopkins

Hanson and the party’s candidates steered clear of One Nation’s traditional political priority of opposing immigration and multiculturalism, but it was an event that revelled in political incorrectness.

It opened with an AI-produced video including a young black man with a machete, while Nicholson joked about holding a Welcome to Country and sarcastically used the Wurundjeri words Narrm (Melbourne) and Wominjeka (welcome).

One Nation’s policy document proposes boosting police numbers, speeding up court hearings, including by introducing a 24/7 bail court, and introducing harsher sentences for violent crimes.

Protesters and police outside Crown during One Nation’s campaign launch on Saturday.Joe Armao

News crews from the ABC and SBS were refused entry to the campaign launch. The party’s national leadership has banned the public broadcaster and The Guardian from events earlier this year, while it has previously also barred The Age in response to its reporting.

Michael Slezak, the federal president of media at the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said One Nation’s ban on certain news outlets was a threat to press freedom and breached the public’s right to know. “When one of us is attacked with impunity, it sets a new standard of behaviour that will impact us all,” he said.

But while some of the media were barred, prominent neo-Nazi Michael Nelson got inside for the launch.

Nelson, of the now outlawed National Socialist Network, posted pictures on social media from inside the conference hall – past the tight security at the ticketed event – wearing a One Nation cap.

Nelson also tried to gatecrash a Melbourne One Nation fundraiser earlier this year, but that time was twice stopped at the door.

One Nation candidates have previously spoken at March for Australia rallies organised by members of the neo-Nazi group and last month, federal One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce had to brush aside questions after he “inadvertently” bumped into NSN leader Thomas Sewell at a Canberra casino, claiming he didn’t realise who Sewell was until some time into their discussion.

A group of about 30 protesters gathered outside the event at Crown in heavy rain on Saturday.

One Nation received nearly $50,000 from one of Australia’s biggest labour-hire firms after the party performed an eleventh-hour reversal and supported legislation that gutted several legal challenges in which the company, WorkPac, was potentially exposed to $100 million in liabilities.
The decision to support the Morrison government’s controversial 2021 industrial relations bill came after One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts had spent months criticising the legislation, calling it a “cruel mess” that would harm casual workers.

Senators Malcolm Roberts and Pauline Hanson during debate in the Senate at Parliament House.ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN
It caused significant upheaval within One Nation, prompting Stuart Bonds, a coal industry worker and the party’s lead candidate for the upper house at the looming NSW election, to quit the party.
Simon Turner, a former Hunter Valley coal miner who had for years backed the party due to Roberts’ support, labelled it a “betrayal”.

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The previously unreported contribution from WorkPac raises questions about the motivations behind One Nation’s decision to reverse its position. A One Nation source also alleged WorkPac made contributions before and after the March 2021 vote, casting doubt on the party’s disclosures.
Asked about his departure from One Nation over the vote, Bonds said it was the first time he had been made aware of WorkPac’s contribution, but did not believe the funds would have influenced the party’s vote.

Stuart Bonds (centre), now a One Nation candidate at the upcoming NSW election, campaigning with Sue Gilroy for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party in Singleton in 2021, after he fell out with One Nation over its support for the Morrison government’s controversial IR reforms. JAMES BRICKWOOD
“I don’t think it would’ve happened. It’s always been the party’s position: you’re welcome to make a donation, but it will never change the party’s policy,” Bonds told this masthead.
Australian Electoral Commission disclosures show Pauline Hanson’s party received $48,000 from WorkPac across four transactions during the 2021-22 financial year. It represented just under 10 per cent of the party’s disclosed receipts for that period. They are the only contributions the company has made to One Nation.

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WorkPac, Australia’s largest privately owned recruitment and staffing business, also gave $57,000 to the Liberal Party across the 2020-21 and 2021-22 financial years.
A One Nation spokesman did not engage with a series of questions about WorkPac’s contributions, including whether they were connected to the party’s vote and if any meetings were held with the company before the matter came up in the Senate.
“One Nation has consistently raised concerns about casual employment practices in the black coal sector since 2019,” he said.
“All donations to One Nation are duly disclosed in accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918.”
He did not answer questions about whether Chris Taylor – Hanson’s current chief of staff who reportedly worked for WorkPac until joining the office of then prime minister Scott Morrison as general counsel and special adviser in June 2021 – lobbied One Nation directly over the legislation.

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The vote
In May 2020, a landmark Federal Court ruling delivered a hefty blow to labour hire companies. It found “casual” employees who worked regular and predictable shifts with a firm advance commitment to work were entitled to paid annual, sick and carer’s leave. The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union had argued the arrangements that existed before the ruling allowed multinational mining and labour hire companies to pay casuals lower rates than permanent workers.
The decision – in a case brought by coal mine worker Robert Rossato against WorkPac — bolstered a set of class-action lawsuits brought by coal miners seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in backpay from employers. It sparked panic among employer groups, with estimates an avalanche of claims could cost employers up to $40 billion.
It prompted the Morrison government to release a draft omnibus Industrial Relations bill which, if passed, would gut the claims.
Roberts lashed the proposed changes as a “cruel mess”, promising One Nation would stand up for casual workers affected by misclassification, and warning the government not to block entitlements for regional casual miners.

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The Queensland senator had regularly appeared in videos railing against labour hire practices alongside injured worker Turner, who became the face of a class action lawsuit against BHP, the owner of the Mount Arthur coal mine in the Hunter Valley. In a 22-minute video posted to social media in July 2020 with Turner and Bonds, Roberts described a process of “exploitation, abuse and negligence” in the coal industry.
“It’s horrific, it’s unethical, immoral and unlawful, with deliberate breaches of laws,” Roberts said in the video.
Roberts’ public opposition remained staunch until at least late February 2021, two months after the legislation was introduced, labelling the system a playground for the “IR club”, what he believed was a cabal of class-action litigation lawyers, unions and big employer organisations profiting from the system’s complexity.
His position was backed by Bonds, who had almost snatched the seat of Hunter from veteran Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon at the federal election two years earlier.
In a submission to a Senate inquiry examining the bill, Bonds accused the then government of trying to “cover up for labour hire companies”.

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“Workers are entitled to billions of dollars in back pay, and they should be paid accordingly,” Bonds wrote.
But on March 18, One Nation suddenly flipped, supporting the Morrison government’s insertion of a retrospective statutory definition of “casual”, based strictly on an employer’s initial offer. As a result of Roberts’ and Hanson’s votes, the bill passed 35 to 33.

Liberal ministers Michaelia Cash, Simon Birmingham and Anne Ruston speak to One Nation’s Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts during debate in the Senate on March 18, 2021.ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN
Michaelia Cash – a Liberal senator who, as acting industrial relations minister, was negotiating with the crossbench during the bill’s passage – did not respond to requests for comment.
In a speech in the Senate articulating One Nation’s new position, Roberts echoed concerns that employer groups had been mounting for months. “Doing nothing is not an option,” he said.

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It was an incredibly valuable intervention for WorkPac, which was directly exposed to more than $100 million in class actions brought by labour-hire coal miners.
By codifying a new statutory definition of “casual”, the government neutralised WorkPac and other mining labour-hire operators’ multimillion-dollar exposure to backpay entitlements the companies faced in pending class actions.
Onlookers were stunned by the about-face. Turner, who said he was introduced to Roberts in about 2019 via Bonds, said he was in regular contact with the One Nation senator in the lead-up to the vote, and even stayed with him in Canberra.
“I was constantly down in Canberra meeting with [One Nation],” he said. Roberts and others also met him near Newcastle Airport.
“Malcolm Roberts was against it 100 per cent the whole time,” he said. “He was never going to vote for it, it was wrong. Then the day of the vote ... they just flipped.”

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Turner said he was not warned the party had shifted positions, and went “ape shit” when he found out.
“I had a massive f---ing blue with him and never spoke to them for ages after that. That was why Stuart Bonds blew up as well, because as far as he knew they were voting f---ing against it,” he said.
“They just f---ed me.”
The One Nation spokesman said: “When we consider legislation, we do so on its merits. These reforms addressed significant legal uncertainties that exposed tens of thousands of small businesses to an estimated $39 billion in double-dipping liability.
“The bill passed with a majority in the Australian Senate, and the position in the bill was ultimately supported in a unanimous decision of the High Court of Australia”.

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The High Court ruled on the Rossato matter in August 2021, effectively shutting down the pathway for long-term casuals to claim they were part-time or full-time workers. Labour-law experts said the ruling signalled a change in the way courts have been told to think about employment rights, focusing the substance of a worker’s contract over the reality of how they end up working – as legislated in the Morrison government’s bill.
Bonds used a One Nation fundraiser on March 26, eight days after the vote, where the party’s then NSW leader Mark Latham was the keynote speaker, to express his disappointment and attack the rise of labour-hire firms employing casuals as having “brought absolute misery and divided the workforce”.
“I’ve seen the pain, suffering, misery, heartache, depression, suicides, uncertainty, divorces, people missing their wives’ birthdays, children’s birthdays, spending Christmas in the mine, Easter in the mine, for years and years on end,” he told the fundraiser.
“I am disappointed with the party’s position. It’s really cut me to the core. I think it has a lot to do with my personal distaste for this because of my father.”
Bonds’ father nearly died in a mining accident while employed as a casual decades ago, fracturing his ribs and skull, requiring him to undergo facial reconstructive surgery.

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When Latham arrived to find a Newcastle Heraldjournalist sitting at the fundraiser head table – an invitation this masthead has confirmed was offered by Bonds’ camp – he says he suspected an ambush. A story covering Bonds’ criticism of the party ran off the paper’s front page the next day.
The coal mining industry worker eventually left One Nation, and publicly backed the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party at a byelection in the seat of Upper Hunter later that year. He subsequently ran as an independent in the seat of Hunter at the 2022 federal election, before returning to One Nation in early 2025.
Despite being pushed out of One Nation, Bonds says he would have acted differently if he had his time again, saying the party later explained to him there was a broader economic impact at play, which he was missing by focusing solely on the impacts to casual mining workers.
“You don’t get your own way all the time; you’re not always right, and the party isn’t always right. If it had happened again now, I would’ve handled it differently,” he said.
A One Nation source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations, said they were told by staff members of party HQ that the WorkPac contributions were made before and after the Senate vote.

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The dates of the contributions are not disclosed because the party classified them as “other receipts”, rather than donations.
A spokesman for the Australian Electoral Commission said the classification applied to any contribution not marked as a gift or donation. General examples of those contributions included membership subscriptions to political parties, payments of election funding, payments between state branches of political parties, and payments between parties and their associated entities.
It is unclear why WorkPac’s contributions to One Nation were classified in this way.
WorkPac did not respond to requests for comment.
“Importantly, while the form requires that parties declare the figure for ‘other receipts’ that reach the disclosure threshold, it doesn’t require that they provide any further information about what those other receipts pertain to,” the AEC spokesman** **said, noting that would change under new transparency reforms commencing in January.

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Nearly a year after voting with the Coalition, Roberts introduced a new bill into the Senate. It required labour-hire workers covered by certain modern awards to receive at least the same pay as other employees for the same work.
“Mr President, do you remember when employers actually employed people – gave them holidays and sick pay and treated workers like assets to be nurtured and developed instead of liabilities to be limited?” Roberts said in his second reading speech.
During debate over the bill, Trade Minister Don Farrell quipped: “Maybe if Senator Roberts hadn’t supported the former government as often and consistently and regularly as he did, Australian workers might actually be in a slightly better position.”

New figures show 102,594 first home buyers have used the government’s 5% deposit scheme over the last year after the Labor government expanded the initiative.

One in two first home buyers nationally are now using the scheme to get into the market. Government figures estimate the policy has saved Australians more than $2.5bn in lenders mortgage insurance in total, with about $1.4bn of that saved in the last 12 months.

99% of buyers are ahead or on track with repayments.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said in a statement:

>This scheme is helping Australians, particularly young Australians, get their foot in the door and achieve the dream of home ownership. When it comes to housing challenges, we’re tackling it from every angle – making it easier for first home buyers, boosting supply and helping renters get a better deal.

In August the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 per cent, the highest for nearly five years, even as employment continued to grow relatively solidly.

It will do little to change the likelihood of a rate rise this week.

The latest labour force figures released by the Bureau of Statistics are that annoying type of economic data that provides something for everyone.

If you believe the Reserve Bank is wrong to keep raising interest rates – and it should hold off on raising the cash rate tomorrow to its highest level since 2011 of 4.6 per cent – you will point to the unemployment rate rising to 4.6 per cent:

This case is further made by the reality that when we go a bit further than one decimal point, the unemployment rate in August was 4.646 per cent.

This means there only needed to be a further 600 people out of work for the rate to have been rounded up to 4.7 per cent.

The rise was driven mostly by more men looking for work. The unemployment rate for men aged 20-24 rose from 7.2 per cent to 7.9 per cent, for men aged 25-34 it jumped from 4.2 per cent to 4.5 per cent, and for men aged 45-55 it rose from 2.8 per cent to 3.3 per cent.

The biggest contributor to the rise from women was among those aged 25-34, where the unemployment rate rose from 3.7 per cent to 4.0 per cent.

It all means that the unemployment rate has risen more than half a percentage point from the start of the year when the 4.0 per cent rate preceded the RBA raising rates three times in a row.

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The current increase has placed the labour force close to the tipping point of recession according to the measure used by US economist, Claudia Sahm:

According to Sahm, when the three-month average rate of unemployment rises by more than 0.5 percentage points in a 12 months period, that indicates a likely recession.

She argues that is when the central bank should cuts rates and governments should begin stimulus spending, because inevitably unemployment will continue to rise sharply.

On the other hand, those who think the RBA is on the right track will point to the reality that this is exactly what the RBA wanted.

Just this week, governor of the Reserve Bank, Michele Bullock, told the Centre for Economic Development that: “At the moment, we think that’s [4.5 per cent unemployment] a bit tight. … I think between 4.5 and 5 will probably take enough heat out of the labor market that it’ll ease pressure on inflation.”

The RBA is happy, and indeed essentially wishes, for unemployment to keep rising because it believes that will ease inflationary pressures.

Just how it is affected by world oil prices,and by extension local petrol prices, is less clear:

Since the last RBA board meeting the average price of unleaded petrol has risen 40 cents a litre – equivalent to more than one interest rate rise in costs to Australian families.

But the RBA, and those wanting more rate rises will point to the still relatively solid employment growth.

In August 39,494 more people were employed – a good increase, which even in trend terms (which are less erratic than the usual seasonally adjusted numbers) shows that employment continues to grow well over the year:

That alone will be enough for the RBA to raise rates next week. Bullock will no doubt acknowledge the rise in the unemployment rate, but point to the growth of employment as a sign that the economy is still too buoyant, and thus needs to be slowed.

But a deeper look finds that the big growth in employment was in part-time employment, while full-time employment fell slightly – hardly a sign of strength.

Right now, the market is almost certain the RBA will raise rates tomorrow:

With that, we also know the odds of the unemployment rate rising are equally certain.
But that is what the RBA wants, and so that is what it, and we, get.

This article first appeared in The Point. Read the original here.

Warning: Graphic content

Members of violent international extremism networks are coercing young Australians into harming themselves while evading authorities as they move across online platforms under multiple aliases.

Swedish court documents obtained by this masthead reveal the groups’ involvement in attacks in several countries, including the repeated abuse of an Australian girl who was blackmailed into strangling her family’s pet cat and committing self-mutilation.

Kevin Johansson and Kyle Spitze have been jailed over their roles in a nihilistic violent extremist network. Michael Howard

Dismantling the networks has emerged as a top priority for Australian law enforcement officials, who believe rapidly evolving technology and the use of online platforms to groom and manipulate children are driving the rise of online harm to young people.

Almost a year after Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett used her maiden National Press Club address to sound the alarm on the networks, court documents tendered during the sentencing of Swedish teenager Kevin Johansson detail the methods used by members to target and manipulate vulnerable teenagers.

Johansson, 18, was this month sentenced to a decade in prison for a raft of offences, including two counts of attempted murder of a victim in Germany, and six counts of raping the Australian girl, who was aged 15 at the time of the offending.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett sounded the alarm on the networks in her maiden National Press Club address.Alex Ellinghausen

According to the Umea District Court judgment, first reported by Swedish media outlet Expressen and obtained by this masthead, Johansson joined the networks at 15 and began communicating with the Australian girl, whom he forced to torture her family’s pet cat and self-mutilate.

Johansson, who was known within the online networks as “Chai” and “Norah Slimey”, blackmailed the teenager, using sexual content she had filmed at his request, into strangling the cat on camera and writing his online moniker in her own blood.

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The girl was aware that material shared with Johansson, including her identity, could be used against her if she refused, according to the court judgment. Initially, the girl believed Johansson was a kind and loving figure.

After the girl refused Johansson’s demand that she kill her family’s cat, he falsely reported her father to Australian authorities, telling police that he was in possession of firearms and planned to shoot members of his family. The fabricated tip-off – known within the networks as “swatting” – triggered an almost immediate response from heavily armed tactical officers.

Kevin Johansson targeted an Australian girl online. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for child abuse, animal cruelty and aiding an attempted murder. 

Johansson was also convicted for encouraging a German teenager to die by suicide, and his role in several knife attacks, some of which were live-streamed. The 18-year-old, who was linked to the attacks through another of his online aliases, edited and distributed footage of the incidents, according to the court judgment, and directed some of the teenage attackers. Johansson has not been charged with any criminal offences in Australia.

Barrett last year launched Taskforce Pompilid amid growing concern about the networks’ targeting of Australian girls. “They are crimefluencers, and are motivated by anarchy and hurting others, with most of their victims pre-teen or teenage girls,” Barrett said last October.

Kyle Spitze was sentenced to 77 years in prison in the United States for his role in the network. US Department of Justice

The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation has received 176 reports since last January related to what authorities call sadistic online exploitation. Two prominent networks, 764 and NLM – an acronym for No Lives Matter – typically comprise members from English-speaking countries and share beliefs on violent extremism, nihilism, Nazism, satanism and sadism.

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The networks operate within a larger group called The Com – or The Community – and coerce vulnerable teenagers into committing sexualised self-harm or violence against other people. They have reached children through gaming platforms such as Roblox, and messaging apps Discord and Telegram.

One of 764’s ringleaders, Kyle Spitze, was last month sentenced to 77 years in prison – the longest federal prison sentence ever imposed on a nihilistic violent extremist, according to the US Department of Justice. The Australian girl targeted by Johansson was also one of Spitze’s victims.

The groups operate with a culture similar to multi-player online gaming networks and, in some instances, trade victims, said Assistant Commissioner Sandra Booth, who leads the AFP’s cyber and special investigations unit.

“To be accepted into these networks, perpetrators often have to pass a test or undertake a task, such as providing videos of the self-harm of others, or other gory content,” Booth said.

“Status can be gained by sharing increasingly extreme and harmful content.”

Booth said that while authorities believed several Australians were associated with the networks, the complex and fluid nature of the groups presented challenges in determining the scale of their involvement.

“What is particularly concerning is that these groups target and exploit vulnerable people, and children and young people can be involved as both victims and offenders,” Booth said.

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‘Sadistic’ online gangs hunting Australian girls like a video game, AFP chief warns

“The reality is with this insidious crime type, children are being harmed in what we hope would be their safe place – in their homes, with their families nearby. In many cases, by the time law enforcement becomes aware of this activity, significant financial, physical or psychological harm has already occurred and victims are already suffering the consequences.”

The AFP is investigating allegations that an Australian offender coerced an overseas child to physically hurt a younger sibling, Booth said. The children were removed from harm while the investigation is ongoing. Barrett last year said officers had made three local arrests and identified 59 alleged network members.

Booth said authorities had identified another overseas victim using material found on electronic devices seized during a separate investigation and alerted overseas counterparts, who intervened.

She said parents, carers and educators played a vital role in helping children safely navigate online platforms.

“Open conversations about online activity and digital responsibility are essential.

“Families need to know who their children are engaging with online.”

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