The aesthetics, language and grievances of the radical right are capable of dragging youth to the far right without espousing a traditional political ideology, counter-terrorism expert Julian Droogan has told the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion.
"Rather than acting on behalf of a political cause to affect political change in the world … it's more perhaps narcissistic, more focused around their identity building, their own performance," the Macquarie University professor told the inquiry on Wednesday.
"You can have young people drawn into these movements and become anti-social, anti-government, but they don't always absorb the actual political philosophy of the far right."
Online movements including involuntarily-celibates and the manosphere were among the exploitative movements responsible, he said.
Hierarchies in the online space are also less clear, as encrypted apps like Telegram foster decentralised, extremist networks.
Telegram was more a social space where far-right ideas and memes and aesthetics and symbols were shared and amplified and grow, Prof Droogan said.
Anti-Semitism, however, remained central to far-right and neo-Nazi movements, he said.
Lone actors were most often responsible for acts of violence in Australia, Prof Droogan said, pointing to Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant, who is an Australian citizen.
Prof Droogan has a research and publishing background in counter-terrorism, extremism and disinformation.
Earlier in the hearing, Commissioner Virginia Bell AC reproached parties responsible for a series of "truly abusive, Islamophobic emails" directed toward a counsel after Tuesday's hearings.
Ragni Mathur SC, on behalf of a Palestine protest group, had asked a Jewish leader about the timeline of Israel's response to Hamas' October 7, 2023 attack in the context of a protest held at the Sydney Opera House two days later.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin accused the counsel of "clickbait theatrics and gratuitous slurs against Israel".
Ms Bell, without naming Mr Ryvchin, said Ms Mathur "did not hijack this royal commission".
"Counsel appearing for groups before this royal commission … should no more be the subject of Islamophobic or other attacks than should members of the Jewish community have come before and given evidence and who have been subjected to vile anti-Semitic attack," she said.
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