Short-term rental accommodation supporters share many characteristics with right-wing extremists

Dr Jeff Lewis and Dr Belinda Lewis

Afew years ago the Victorian government commissioned us to research violent extremism in Australia. ASIO refers to these groups as ideologically motivated violent extremists (IMVE).

Initially, our research focused on the threats posed by religious extremism. This was a reasonable approach, given the devastating impact of events like the Bali Bombings (2002, 2005), the Lindt Café siege (2014), and the rise of ISIS.

Our investigations quickly revealed, however, that the threat posed by religious extremism is being matched, or even eclipsed, by new forms of violent right-wing extremism (RWE).

Right-wing extremists have been active in Australia for at least a century, but there is now clear evidence of a resurgence of totalitarian sentiment in Australia and elsewhere in the world.

This view is confirmed by the federal government’s own homeland security website. It’s also corroborated by a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Assembly of Sciences (PNAS, 2022).

We’ve seen direct evidence of this resurgence in the United States, Brazil and other democratic nations.

The targeted assassinations of Muslim worshippers in Christchurch (2019) and police in Queensland (2022) are linked to this framework of violent right-wing ideology.

Our own study found that RWE has developed increasingly sophisticated communication and persuasion strategies.

These strategies are designed to distribute information, propaganda and ideology. They are also designed to infiltrate and influence conventional democratic processes.

Several RWE groups have been identified as terror organisations in Australia. The great difficulty for policy and law enforcement, however, is definition.

RWE groups in Australia are chameleon, deceptive and diverse. RWE members are from many different backgrounds, bearing a wide range of interests, emphases and motivations.

Even so, the groups share some common characteristic such as:

• A deep distrust of democracy and governance systems.

• Belief in a homogeneous and hierarchical society that is dominated by those who are ‘the most deserving’ and powerful.

• An exaltation of ‘freedom’, which is defined as unhindered self-interest.

• A deep dislike for public welfare and ‘community’, both of which are seen as weakness and a hindrance to individual freedom.

• A disposition to violence as a legitimate, even necessary, means to express freedom and self-interest.

• A belief that political and social improvement is only possible through the complete liberation of the individual and his self-interest.

Many of these features, in our opinion, are shared by the active advocates of STRA in the Byron Shire.

It’s quite clear that the vast majority of the Byron Shire community wants to see the STRA industry regulated and restrained. A rigorous and inclusive democratic process has been undertaken and the outcome is unambiguous.

So why has the local community and democratic process been so radically thwarted at the eleventh hour? And why has the elected state government crumbled under the pressure of unelected corporate property interests?

Quite obviously, the STRA advocates are largely from big business, most of them based in major cities, and several with international reach.

Corporations generally, and the STRA corporations in particular, have no real interest in public governance, democracy or public/ community rights.

After all, democracy was designed to constrain the excesses of corporate and political power. Therefore, the motivations and ideology of the STRA corporates are in essence antithetical to community-based democracy.

The advertising and lobbying campaigns that the corporate property moguls have inflicted on the Shire exposed a deep disdain for community and neighbourhoods. Used to getting their own way in everything, the corporates have been unrelenting in their attacks on democratic process and community needs.

The corporates’ singular interest in profit has demonstrated a complete lack of interest in community wellbeing. Most striking is their ignorance about the complex social and economic determinants of healthy, diverse, equitable and cohesive communities.

This hostility is fundamentally exercised through the expropriation of territory; houses, rental accommodation, public spaces and infrastructure. It’s also evident in the unceasing and aggressive disruption of peace for neighbourhoods, families and vulnerable residents.

No doubt, these corporations would deny their affiliation with right-wing extremism. They would defend themselves by pointing out that they are working within the aegis of the law and that their activities are not directly ‘violent’.

Our research into rightwing extremism shows, however, that violence is

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14 insidious and not always direct and explicit. As in family or racial violence, much of the STRA ‘violence’ is exercised through domination, alienation and threat.

Profit is made on the misery of others – that is, our community.

Inflicting constant disruption on neighbourhoods, families and individuals is cruel enough. But depriving people of affordable accommodation is one of the worst acts of violence one group can ever impose on another.

The right-wing extremists we studied are largely clandestine. They cloak their violence in language and ideology. They despise the impediments of regulation.

This looks very much like the strategy and ideology of STRA corporations and their affiliates.

While they continue to accumulate wealth and property, the advocates of unrestrained STRA bully and infiltrate the political process. This is precisely the approach of RWE.

The sudden intervention of the State Planning Office in a clearly defined democratic process is an act of violence; right-wing extremism at its most pernicious.

Further Reading: Jasko Katarzyna and colleagues, A comparison of political violence by left-wing, right-wing, and Islamist extremists in the United States and the world. Jeff Lewis and colleagues, ‘Social cohesion, Twitter and far right politics in Australia’ The European Journal of Cultural Studies

Lydia Khalil ‘The new global extremism and the threat to democracy’ (2022) The Lowy Institute.

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