The only New South Wales organisation working to prevent far-right extremism in the community had its federal funding cut in 2014 under former prime minister Tony Abbott.
Experts are calling for more funding in this space after the Christchurch shooting at two mosques, which killed 50 people and wounded another 50.
Griffith University counter-terror expert Keiran Hardy, who has been investigating funding for government programs preventing extremism, told Hack the focus so far has been on Islamic radicalisation.
"I think the New Zealand shooting will be a big turning point because the Australian focus has been towards Islamist extremism," he said.
Keiran - along with other counter-terror experts - said Australia needs to be funding programs based in the community, which identify when young people are being radicalised into becoming far-right extremists.
He said it appears the Federal Government has not allocated any funding in the latest budget to community programs preventing extremism - including for Islamic extremism.
"Under the recent government, that funding has dried up," he said.
"The budget line item for countering violent extremism, I can no longer find that."
The Rudd Government created the "Building Community Resilience" grants program to fund programs countering extremism in the community in 2010.
However, funding for that program was cut in the 2013/14 budget by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and partly reinstated after backlash in the community.
Hack understands the only government program in NSW focusing on preventing far-right extremism lost its federal funding during that funding cut.
Home Affairs Department can't specify funding focusing on far-right extremism
In a statement to Hack, a spokeswoman for the Department of Home Affairs said the Federal Government has spent $53 million on countering violent extremism since the Coalition came into power in 2013.
"The Government's countering violent extremism (CVE) strategy addresses the drivers of all forms of violent extremism, including far-right extremism," the statement said.
"Our intervention programs take an ideology neutral approach and cater for all drivers of radicalisation to violence."
However, the spokeswoman did not name any programs or specify how much funding currently focused specifically on countering right-wing extremism.
Keiran Hardy from Griffith University said the Government's focus continues to be on policing, security agencies, and emergency response teams, but there should also be funding for prevention strategies.
"I think there's a real need to invest in these programs even if it's at an experimental stage," he said.
"Clearly there'll be people who will fall through the cracks - that's the problem with the lone wolf attacks.
Programs relying solely on state government funding
In the absence of Federal Government funding, prevention programs are relying solely on state government funding.
The NSW Government has allocated $12 million to community based programs but the majority are focused on Islamic extremism.
The only program working to prevent far-right extremism in the community is run by four part-time workers. It told Hack it's struggling without enough funding.
The organisation - which prefers not to be named because of security concerns - trains youth workers at NGOs to identify signs of far right extremism and deradicalise young people.
The NSW Government told Hack it also funds deradicalisation programs in prisons, counter-terror police units, and a hotline to report if someone you know is showing signs of extremism.
A Corrections Department spokeswoman said the hotline has received more than a thousand calls and conducted 137 web chats since its inception in 2017.
The Queensland Government does not fund any community programs preventing extremism and also focuses on policing strategies.
The Victorian Government told Hack it's overhauled counter-terrorism laws, given police extra powers and created programs tackling violent extremism.
However, the spokeswoman couldn't say how much is being spent on programs specifically focused on preventing far-right radicalisation or how much funding has been allocated to this area.
Griffith University's Keiran Hardy has warned there's not enough being done in those early, crucial stages, to stop young people being radicalised and becoming far-right extremists in the future.
"I think there's a need to tell governments that we want evidence based solutions, we don't want political rhetoric on this or calling people soft on terrorism," he said.
"We want people to know that terrorism is terrorism no matter the motivation or background."
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Author Avani Dias
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