Lowy Institute paper reveals the true traits of Australian Islamic State fighters and jihadis

The Australians who joined ISIS and al Qaeda are frighteningly ordinary: typically young men from the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, from stable homes, married and with good jobs and no criminal record. Key points: The majority of Australian jihadis are not refugees but second generation Australians, says a paper from the Lowy Institute Ninety per cent of the jihadis are from suburbs on the outskirts of Sydney or Melbourne In the assessment of judges in 40 trials, only 10 per cent of jihadis have displayed genuine remorse And if they're caught, few show genuine contrition about their actions. The study "Typology of Terror" provides hard evidence against misconceptions such as a link between refugees and terrorism: just six per cent of Australia's jihadis are refugees or the children of refugees. Although there is no such thing as an 'average' Australian jihadi, if we were to construct one from the aggregated data, they would likely have many of the following characteristics: Male Mid 20s Lives in Sydney Is or has been married Born in Australia to overseas-born parents who are still married No prior criminal record Completed high school at a government school Employed in a blue-collar job No mental health issues Not contrite and judged to have relatively poor prospects of rehabilitation Forty per cent of them were either born in Lebanon, or have a parent from Lebanon. The Australian government says it won't put Australians at risk to rescue the children of ISIS parents from al Hawl camp, even though the United States has repeatedly offered to bring the women and children out of Syria and deliver them directly to Australian officials in another country.