Op-ed published in The Daily Telegraph and News Corp newspapers on 16 September 2026
My child isn’t old enough yet to play video games. But that day isn’t far off and it’s already on my mind.
Most parents see gaming for what it usually is, children having fun, competing with friends and exploring virtual worlds.
But there’s a darker side to the online world that parents need to understand.
Radicalisation increasingly doesn’t start with something that looks radical. It can start with a game, then a chat, then a private message, then a move to an encrypted platform.
That’s why I pushed for a new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security inquiry into the drivers of radicalisation in Australia.
The threat is changing and changing quickly. Increasingly, it’s happening online and reaching younger people.
In April, the eSafety Commissioner issued legally enforceable notices to Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and Steam over extremist content risks.
ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has said radicalisation that once took months or years can now happen within weeks.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has also warned young Australians are being radicalised “at unprecedented speed” through social media, gaming platforms and encrypted networks.
The numbers should concern every parent.
Around 20 per cent of ASIO’s priority counter-terrorism cases now involve young people and participation in Australia’s countering violent extremism programs has risen by almost 18 per cent in six months.
Nine in 10 Australian households play video games and most of that is exactly what it looks like: kids just having fun.
But eSafety research shows 40 per cent of children who play online games have played with strangers, while more than a quarter have chatted with people they don’t know outside the game.
That creates opportunities for people who aim to manipulate or groom them. Algorithms can make it worse by feeding users more of what holds their attention.
Australia isn’t alone. Researchers have documented extremist content reaching children as young as nine on gaming platforms, and last November, Europol identified thousands of extremist links on gaming-adjacent platforms across eight countries.
The Albanese Government has also recognised the threat, committing $74 million over two years for the new Counter-Terrorism Online Centre, run jointly by the AFP and ASIO.
As Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke put it: “The capability we’ve always had to monitor extremists in the meeting room now extends to the chat room.”
Since counter-terrorism laws prohibiting hate symbols took effect in 2024, 31 people have been charged with violent extremist material offences, 19 of them aged 17 or under.
Those figures are alarming, but they raise a fundamental question: how did these young people get there?
The Committee will examine how young people can be groomed through gaming platforms, how algorithms amplify these threats and what obligations tech companies should have.
As a parent, I find it deeply concerning that a child could be radicalised through something as ordinary as playing a game.
The uncomfortable reality is that parents may not realise how close this threat is to their own children.
Understanding how children are being targeted is the only way we get ahead of this threat.
Our kids should be able to go online, play and connect without being drawn into something they never went looking for.
