Why did No One See this Train Coming?
Could the tragic event that unfolded in rural Queensland on Monday December 12, 2022 have been prevented?
It has been widely reported that the Train brothers had been taking ice and "bragging" to locals about how they were "fortifying" their remote property. One train family member even described the situation at the property as "cult" like.
Let's flip this. If the Train brothers had been of middle eastern appearance and Muslim, that behavior would have almost without question, have been reported to the terrorist hotline, or at least to the police. The police themselves are claiming that the risk assessment analysis done before venturing to the property threw up no red flags. It would not be unusual if indeed, some locals empathized to whatever extent, with some of the positions held by the brothers, while also not contemplating that they could pose any threat to anyone. After all, being a One Nation voter is not illegal!
This is the underlying, almost invisible racism that allows people like the Trains to slip under the radar.
Background
The Train brothers were raised in a strict household dominated by the personal bible interpretations of their evangelical father, who had started his own church - The Christian Independent Fellowship of Toowoomba. Christian "fellowship" evangelical churches number among them, many that are regarded as cults. Both Nathaniel and Gareth went into the teaching profession, along with Nathaniel's first wife, Stacey. A third brother, Andrew, was also a teacher in Queensland. It is not known if he still is. Last year, a Queensland High School asked on its facebook page for students and former students to name the teacher who had the most impact on them. One responder nominated Andrew for implanting the following quote, "Take on board advice given but always act with respect to your own values and goals.” Without drawing any direct parallels, or suggesting that Andrew shares his brother's worldviews, it can be said that they took this life advice to the nth degree.
The Christian Independant Fellowship of Toowoomba
Some years ago, The Christian Fellowship of Toowoomba transforned from a church to a registered charity operating in NSW and Qld. It's headquarters is a suburban home in Coff's Harbour, NSW. It has a presence in a number of regional towns in NSW and Queensland - particularly those with significant Indigenous populations. The charity is also known as "Communicating Informally Faith and Truth". It is not known if it is associated with other organisations, charities, groups or churches who use similar words in their names. Ronald Train is the registered director, with committee members listed as Naomi Train and Andrew Train. Up until the end of 2013, the sole purpose of the charity was listed as "the advancement of religion". It now lists its purpose as helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are disabled or financially disadvantaged in rural, regional and remote communitie with their economic and spiritual needs.
It should be noted here that last September, the ABC and the Guardian were reporting on vaccination resistance in rural, regional and remote Indigenous communities being driven by religious groups.
The Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center in the United States characterizes the types of organizations and groups that influenced the Train brothers in the following manner.
There is little doubt that Stacey Train targeted a job to try and affect the carriculum at Tara State school (she was head of curriculum) and that Nathaniel's complaints about the curriculum to the NSW Education Department is also related to the agenda of such groups. Meanwhile, Ronald Train has disavowed any responsibility for the actions of his sons. On the face of it, this sounds reasonable. They were adults and he had not seen them for over 20 years. But perhaps he should reflect upon his own conspiracy theories about masons, and the strictness of his house and of his beliefs. Beware the preacher with the One Truth. Rejection of science and of man's law and governance would also seem to have sprung from their upbringing.
The washup
It is really as big a question as climate change. How do we keep "freedom of religion" from becoming a life and death struggle with misinfornion and the trampling of the rights and the freedoms of others? Especially in light of some of these groups looking to bring on an apocalyptic end-game heralding the return of whoever they percieve their savior to be. Historically, one of the issues in preventing any real action in these areas has been that some governments have used these people for political advantage, while intelligence organizations and police forces have been stacked with, if not adherents of these philosophies, at least related philosophies.
If climate change does not get us, regious and cionspiracy extremism just might.
Since publishing the above, some additional data has come out.
- Naomi is a sister to the three boys and is also in the teaching profession.
- The family has some Indegenous heritage.
- Gareth had a very controlling personality.
- Nathaniel, while said to have been a hard but fair school principal, nevertheless comes across as having been subservient to Gareth.
- The father is in denial regarding his own influence on the boys, especially in regard to the place of women, religion, and conspiracy theories.
- Although Stacey had bragged that they had enough money to live for years, the cost of fortification of the property, on top of salr panels and batteries, and the purchase of their arsonal, would have substantially eaten into whatever savings they had. Did that play a part in bringing things to such a climactic conclusion?
- The area is known for those wanting, for whatever reason, to live off the grid. This would include a potpouri of anti-establishment types, along with poorer workers who snapped up the hard-as-flint land lacking all utitilites, very cheaply decades ago. Land that was marketed directly to them, using an apeal to the Australian dream of "ownership" of your own patch as the bait.
One question among many that has bugged me: Nathaniel's alleged heart attack. It has taken quite a while for any details to emege - and then then, the detail is thin. This event happened at school, and has been described as a "major" health event. He was apparently tended to by other staff until paramedics arrived. That is all we get on it.
We are not told if he was taken to hospital. If it was a heart attack, he not only should have been taken to the local hospital, in most cases, he would then be flown to Sydney for surgery. Did any of that happen? If not, the talk of a heart attack appears to be no more than a rumor, or a story but out by Nathaniel himself.
I find it is also interesting that Gareth made statements on his videos indicating that the police had been to the property on one or more occasions in the past. The police have not denied or confirmed this - but such information was noticably missing from the initial reports which left the impression this visit was the only one.
What we know from observation is that these types of stories evolve and the final historical version may not resemble the one that emerged in real time. To get to the truth, one must have a good recall, or keep, all of the original stories - and keep track of the changes in the narrative as they get reported. Test the veracity of all conflicting information as much as you can before deciding where the true facts lay.
The case of Raghe Abdi vs the Train Brothers
Thursday presser
In the early morning of Thursday, Novemeber 17, 2020, Queensland Police were called to do a welfare check on a man weaving on foot dangerously among traffic. When police tried to approach, the man pulled a knife and was shot dead on the spot.
It was only learned at that point that he was 22 year old Graghe Abdi who was known to federal counterterrorism squad for a previous attempt to travel to an overseas warzone.
This and other background information was leaked almost immediately to the media (the oipposite would occur in the case of the Trains with Queensland police releasing nothing, but promising to dig for all relevant details. It was a lie. They already had most, if not all, the relevant details and have been reluctantly admitting certain things were known all along only after journalists reported on such matters discovered through their own investigations).
That evening, Queensland police and the Australian Federal Police held a joint press conference.
The Guardian reported on the presser and asked probably the most pertinent question.
When asked why information about Abdi’s background had been released to the public – or whether it was a police tactic of “throwing shade” on the victim of a police shooting – Linford said that was not the case, and that police had to “pursue all avenues of inquiry”.
“The background is important because we’ve got to work out what it was that caused him to be there in the first instance. At this point in time we’re not calling this a terrorism event.
Meanwhile family and friends of Abdi disputed the police version of events, including that he was holding a knife. They claimed it was a water bottle.
While Queensland police assistant commissioner Tracy Linford was pushing the idea of this being a terrorist attack, the Australian Federal Police advised the presser that they did not believe there was any terrorist threat.
Friday's story The next day, Queensland Police were doubling down via Ms Linford, with the new Guardian headline reading "Queensland police say alleged Brisbane double-murder being investigated as 'terrorism event".
Nothing was mentioned about this double-murder during the previous evenings presser. But adding it to the Abdi case ceratinly helped to underpin her claims of terrorism.
There is currently an inquest underway into all of these matters. Whether or not Abdi murdered the elderly couple before wandering down the highway, it seems apparent that he was no terrorist, that the real issue was his underlying mental state, exacerbated by lack of support in dealing with those issues and by other stresses flowing from his past attempt to fly to Somalia. Incredibly, the Chief of ASIO, in the organizations annual report last year, and at odds with what the Federal Police said at the time, labelled Adbi terrorist and a double-murderer with the inquest still ongoing.
The words Queensland police assistant commissioner Tracy Linford “We are treating this matter as a terrorism event,” Abdi case
“And I want to stress that nothing else has been uncovered at this point of time that would indicate that there are any other persons involved in this terrorism event.” Abdi case
When asked to justify the classification of “terrorism”, she said: “It is a whole combination of things”. Abdi case
“Cleary the police shooting yesterday gave us indications he wanted to harm police, and then of course today we’ve got the next matter of the investigation into the double homicide, of which we think he is linked." Abdi case
"So when you put all those things together I think it’s pretty clear we need to treat this as a terrorism event."
Deputy Commissioner Linford said the wide-ranging investigation involved the counter terrorism command and other specialist police teams, but the shooting was not classed as "a domestic terror event". Train case
"We can't see them connected to any particular group that they might have been working with, or inspire them to do anything. We haven't located anything like that at this point in time."
“There was nothing that could have caused a particular flag for our members who attended on that day last Monday, that would have raised any particular concerns about those individuals.” The Train case
So... what can we glean from her statements?
- If you are a Muslim or dark-skinned - you can be a lone wolf terrorist
- If you are a Christian extremist, you can't be a terrorist unless you ares specifically a member of particular organizations - no matter would threats, and screeds you expound and no matter that you live in a fortress and have expressed hatred of police. Hell, yopu can even lay in wait dressed in cammo and you are still not a terrorist
Linford should be sacked. Immediately. And the different treatment the cases are receiving needs to be independently investigated.
There will be more fallout before this is over.
Gareth Train's claims that the police had been there several times has finally been adnitted. If he was telling the truth about that, then perhaps he was also telling the truth that he had been there and intereacted with officers. And might he also be telling the truth that Nathaniel had been acting as a "whistleblower" (or probably more to the point, an informanant for police or intelligence agencies?) That would certainly go a long way to account for the very different treatment of the two cases.
The idea that four inexperienced cops were sent on a routine assignment that had no red flags is utter bullshit. They knew about the weapons. I am certain they had to at least know about them being anti-vaxxers, if not the other matters also - but most telling of all, they knew the area attracted anti-government/anti authority types trying to stay off the grid. Four inexperienced cops is not really much better than two.
The only real alternatives are political pressure from somewhere, religious/racial bigotry, or incompetence.
Any or all of those may be at play at various stages.
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