The Martin Place siege was about “criminals doing terrible things” and is not an issue for Islam or Australia’s Muslim community, the federal police commissioner, Andrew Colvin, has said in his first official speech.
He would not elaborate on whether the AFP was engaging with disillusioned Australians jihadis who might wish to leave Islamic State, saying only that it was a “very active policy consideration” and the police were “very interested in talking to anyone” who reached out.
He expressed reluctance to talk about Australia’s Muslim communities in relation to terrorism, saying “they often felt understandably targeted”, but “we could not have had success in stopping attacks without them.”
Attacks on Muslims in the wake of the Martin Place siege were “a terrible indictment on this country and this society”, he added.
I can't find the quotes attributed to him in the text of his speech so I presume they're part of questions and answers from journalists. It strikes me as plain stupid to pretend Islam had nothing to do with Sheik Haron's motivations.
