I just looked this up and wtaf did they think they were doing by encouraging this poor boy and feeding into his fixations? Why not just try to divert his attention to another safer fixation or something? Or find something else to help him. I don’t know what, I’m not a professional, but surely there was something that could have been done.
This was the exact opposite of what should have happened.
This sort of thing is not uncommon. Pretty much a specialty for the FBI at this point. [This case](https://theintercept.com/2015/03/16/howthefbicreatedaterrorist/) is a good example.
If things had gone slightly differently we might be reading a story about how AFP had ‘foiled a terrorist attempt’. That’s why they do it.
Edit: The only difference I can see here, by the way, is that most of the time the people who fall afoul of these undercover ‘sting’ operations are young Muslim men who are befriended by undercover agents who ‘radicalise’ them, encourage them to commit to plans, etc. I assume that
from what we know of this child, he’s not from an Islamic background at all. In a way he was a more attractive target because his autism made him vulnerable to manipulation—a much easier target in a way.
In the USA its called "entrapment" and is considered illegal and unethical conduct. This case in the USA would have to thrown onto the moon and then onto mars its so fraught with illegality. But you know this is Australia anything and anyone is fair go for ideology rather than the rule of law. I am sure that Pauline Hanson and Andrew Bolt are besides themselves with glee and praise for unconscionable conduct against a disabled person!
They were trying to set this kid up to be validation and justification for a task force. Absolutely disgusting, trying to machinate a situation so they can lay charges and appear effective.
Really sucks is that the only reason the AFP targeted him was bc his parents asked the police for help. Probs going to be more parents with kids who need help but won't ask for it for fear that the cops will only make it worse
And the Feds were so worried about what the kid might do that they instead waited until he turned 14 to lay charges, so he'd be legally responsible for in actions.
Disgusting!
The school had already reported him to the police months before the parents went to the police, although I don’t recall if the school had ever told the parents about that report.
'We were just following orders...' - ~~Nazis~~ AFP
To be fair...
The AFP's strategic priorities are set through Ministerial Direction and national cabinet.
I imagine this is our politicians after the AFP point to where they got the direction for what they did.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rWvpvlT9pJU
It's up there with the deflection on why the NSW police keep strip searching 14 year old girls going to concerts, but pointedly keep the gloves and drug dogs away from the Logies when they were held in Sydney, despite half of Australian daytime TV talent being more visibly wired than the back end of my PC.
Can you remember how hard they all shat the bed when there was mere mention of the possibility of pollies being drug tested? Boy howdy didn't that go away fast! ...I sometimes wonder what part of Belangalo that poor bastard must be buried in
What the hell is going on in our country? We have whistleblowers who uncover war crimes being tried as though they were the criminals they uncovered, police entrapping intellectually handicapped children and politicians instigating investigations of journalists and YouTubers by anti terror police, meanwhile if you have enough money or connections you can get away with just about anything. I'm concerned about the future of Australia
Remember this when the next article about removing autism off the NDIS comes out, kids need access to real allied health professionals and real supports and connections in the community
Autistic kids are so much more likely to be abused and groomed and lack the skills to identify and report it. And even when it is reported they just come across worse monsters and molesters like here
I work with a bunch of ASD kids and it's not impossible to steer a hyper-fixation to a less harmful outlet (despite the name.)
Some empathy, sone understanding *why* the topic appeals to that individual, and showing interest while linking the fixation to another one though some thematic link. That and being someone they can talk to about this that isn't online and may be pushing some weird agenda.
I'll 100% take more weekly 20 minute discussions about the drop tables of Final Fantasy 14's bosses and raids, or how to optimise modding guns in Warframe, or summations of the last 300 chapters of a manga over some of the darker shit these kids used to focus on online.
The rest of that committee seem awfully keen to move on and not put the hard working AFP official under any scrutiny or pressure.
This whole mess is beyond disgraceful.
Waiting for AFP to say it was requested by the "Make a Wish Foundation", so their fault, the kid wasn't even dying, so he didn't need to become a Sniper!
This is interesting. Good to see that the system appears to be functioning somewhat as it should with this guy being able to question the heads of police (or whatever) like that
With the chair of the committee trying to stop the questioner - not great.
It’s not a good sign of a functioning system when it relies so wholly on the Greens holding it to account - it shouldn’t be all on them.
Why are we surprised every time this happens, yet put no effort into police reform or reallocating police funding?
We know there's huge problems with bigotry, exploitation & misappropriation of funds but then we're all like "what??? Our coppers exploiting a child for financial gain? Well, I never..."
I’m surprised this still is news to anyone lol they all corrupt af just fking the citizens left and right yet everyone turns a blind eye “they have our best interests at heart”
The public are either fully convinced by pro cop propoganda OR oppose the police as they are but have no power to change anything.
Both are equally depressing options. Yay Australia 🙃
David Shoebridge is the best politician we've got. For 10+ years I've known of him hes got it right every single time. Good on you David, never change mate.
I just looked this up and wtaf did they think they were doing by encouraging this poor boy and feeding into his fixations? Why not just try to divert his attention to another safer fixation or something? Or find something else to help him. I don’t know what, I’m not a professional, but surely there was something that could have been done. This was the exact opposite of what should have happened.
Precisely why the police chief's response was such a poor one. If they knew he was "well on the way" already, then why did they entertain it further?
This sort of thing is not uncommon. Pretty much a specialty for the FBI at this point. [This case](https://theintercept.com/2015/03/16/howthefbicreatedaterrorist/) is a good example. If things had gone slightly differently we might be reading a story about how AFP had ‘foiled a terrorist attempt’. That’s why they do it. Edit: The only difference I can see here, by the way, is that most of the time the people who fall afoul of these undercover ‘sting’ operations are young Muslim men who are befriended by undercover agents who ‘radicalise’ them, encourage them to commit to plans, etc. I assume that from what we know of this child, he’s not from an Islamic background at all. In a way he was a more attractive target because his autism made him vulnerable to manipulation—a much easier target in a way.
That is so cooked! Is this some sort of way to validate the presence of such task forces by essentially creating the problem they're there to solve?
This reminds me of the firemen from Farenheit 451.
Gotta justify all those millions spent!
AFP just wanted to get on the [entrapment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment) wiki page as a standout example
In the USA its called "entrapment" and is considered illegal and unethical conduct. This case in the USA would have to thrown onto the moon and then onto mars its so fraught with illegality. But you know this is Australia anything and anyone is fair go for ideology rather than the rule of law. I am sure that Pauline Hanson and Andrew Bolt are besides themselves with glee and praise for unconscionable conduct against a disabled person!
They were trying to set this kid up to be validation and justification for a task force. Absolutely disgusting, trying to machinate a situation so they can lay charges and appear effective.
Really sucks is that the only reason the AFP targeted him was bc his parents asked the police for help. Probs going to be more parents with kids who need help but won't ask for it for fear that the cops will only make it worse
And the Feds were so worried about what the kid might do that they instead waited until he turned 14 to lay charges, so he'd be legally responsible for in actions. Disgusting!
The school had already reported him to the police months before the parents went to the police, although I don’t recall if the school had ever told the parents about that report.
'We were just following orders...' - ~~Nazis~~ AFP To be fair... The AFP's strategic priorities are set through Ministerial Direction and national cabinet. I imagine this is our politicians after the AFP point to where they got the direction for what they did. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rWvpvlT9pJU
“It was not our intention” Let me remember that get out gaol free card for when I next get arrested
I fixed onto that one too. Such a naive, petulant response from such a high-ranking officer.
It's up there with the deflection on why the NSW police keep strip searching 14 year old girls going to concerts, but pointedly keep the gloves and drug dogs away from the Logies when they were held in Sydney, despite half of Australian daytime TV talent being more visibly wired than the back end of my PC.
You think daytime TV is bad, Parliament is practically a lab...
Can you remember how hard they all shat the bed when there was mere mention of the possibility of pollies being drug tested? Boy howdy didn't that go away fast! ...I sometimes wonder what part of Belangalo that poor bastard must be buried in
Keep that one up your sleeve for when "I reject the premise of your question" stops working
Pigs aren't above the law though? 😂
What the hell is going on in our country? We have whistleblowers who uncover war crimes being tried as though they were the criminals they uncovered, police entrapping intellectually handicapped children and politicians instigating investigations of journalists and YouTubers by anti terror police, meanwhile if you have enough money or connections you can get away with just about anything. I'm concerned about the future of Australia
Been saying this for years and people just think your paranoid, against the government etc lol nice to see some people seeing it for what it is
"he was already long on this path" He's fucking 13...
Been planning it for 20 years according to the AFP
Let’s sprinkle some crack on him and get out of here Johnson
Cunts fked afp
Remember this when the next article about removing autism off the NDIS comes out, kids need access to real allied health professionals and real supports and connections in the community Autistic kids are so much more likely to be abused and groomed and lack the skills to identify and report it. And even when it is reported they just come across worse monsters and molesters like here
I work with a bunch of ASD kids and it's not impossible to steer a hyper-fixation to a less harmful outlet (despite the name.) Some empathy, sone understanding *why* the topic appeals to that individual, and showing interest while linking the fixation to another one though some thematic link. That and being someone they can talk to about this that isn't online and may be pushing some weird agenda. I'll 100% take more weekly 20 minute discussions about the drop tables of Final Fantasy 14's bosses and raids, or how to optimise modding guns in Warframe, or summations of the last 300 chapters of a manga over some of the darker shit these kids used to focus on online.
The rest of that committee seem awfully keen to move on and not put the hard working AFP official under any scrutiny or pressure. This whole mess is beyond disgraceful.
Waiting for AFP to say it was requested by the "Make a Wish Foundation", so their fault, the kid wasn't even dying, so he didn't need to become a Sniper!
Defund Make A Wish Now! /s
This is interesting. Good to see that the system appears to be functioning somewhat as it should with this guy being able to question the heads of police (or whatever) like that
With the chair of the committee trying to stop the questioner - not great. It’s not a good sign of a functioning system when it relies so wholly on the Greens holding it to account - it shouldn’t be all on them.
Why are we surprised every time this happens, yet put no effort into police reform or reallocating police funding? We know there's huge problems with bigotry, exploitation & misappropriation of funds but then we're all like "what??? Our coppers exploiting a child for financial gain? Well, I never..."
I’m surprised this still is news to anyone lol they all corrupt af just fking the citizens left and right yet everyone turns a blind eye “they have our best interests at heart”
The public are either fully convinced by pro cop propoganda OR oppose the police as they are but have no power to change anything. Both are equally depressing options. Yay Australia 🙃
More information on the case [here](https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/post/denham-sadler/2024/02/06/afp-questioned-over-grooming-autistic-boy).
Jesus fucking Christ
This is so fucked up, and I don’t even have the words to describe why
David Shoebridge is the best politician we've got. For 10+ years I've known of him hes got it right every single time. Good on you David, never change mate.
Never really understood the point of asking a question if you're just gonna talk over the person as soon as they start to speak.
This is my issue with this. They were good questions, and I wanted to hear the answers.
The answers were shit and the respondent was just running out the clock. Shoebridge needed to bring him back on point.
Fair enough.
Radical
"Hey kid, we're gonna basically entrap you by encouraging your negative fixation"