Australia has long benefited from migration. It has strengthened the economy, offset demographic ageing, enriched national culture, and helped create one of the world's most successful multicultural societies. Generations of migrants have contributed enormously to Australia's prosperity and social development. However, in an era of increasing global instability, migration policy must also be examined through a national security lens. While migration brings substantial benefits, failures in integration among a small minority of migrants and their descendants have at times created challenges for security agencies in Australia and other Western countries.

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'Probable' chance of future attack

Australia's national terrorism threat level remains 'probable', indicating a greater than 50 per cent chance of an onshore attack or attack planning within the next 12 months. The assessment reflects a complex threat environment involving religiously motivated violent extremism, nationalist and racist violent extremism, anti-authority extremism, and grievance-fuelled violence. While the overwhelming majority of migrants integrate successfully and contribute positively to Australian society, security investigations have shown that a small number of individuals from some migrant-background communities have been involved in terrorism-related activities.

Several cases illustrate the challenge. The 2014 Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney involved Iranian-born Man Haron Monis, who had been granted asylum in Australia and had a history of criminality, grievance-driven behaviour, and extremist beliefs. The siege resulted in the deaths of two hostages and exposed shortcomings in the management of high-risk individuals. In 2015, 15-year-old Farhad Jabar, an Australian-born youth from a Lebanese Muslim family, murdered police employee Curtis Cheng outside Parramatta Police Headquarters in an Islamic State-inspired attack. A number of associates were subsequently convicted of terrorism-related offences.

Between 2014 and the collapse of the Islamic State caliphate, approximately 230 Australians travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight with or support Islamic State and other........

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