On December 10, Australian police arrested two suspects on charges of conspiracy to conduct an act of terrorism. The suspects, seized in an early-morning raid, are not battle-hardened terrorists, nor are they well-traveled radicals. One suspect is 20 years old, the other just 15. When they perpetrated their crime, they were both teenagers.

The arrests were conducted in relation to Operation Appleby: two enormous police raids conducted in September and December 2014 over a plot to assassinate random members of the Australian public.

Three other men, who were already in custody on unrelated charges, are being held along with the teenagers.

The two arrested last Thursday are members of a radical Islamic group in Sydney’s western suburbs. The group was instigated by Mohammed Ali Baryalei, a Sydney bouncer-turned-Islamic-State-recruiter. While Baryalei was allegedly killed in Syria near the city of Kobane, the group he organized in Sydney is a major concern for the safety of Australian citizens.

Commenting on the roles the two teens played in last year’s terrorist plot, the police said the kids were “formulating documents connected with preparations to facilitate, assist or engage a person to undertake a terrorist act.” The grim reality is that this plot was uncovered a year ago and was possibly in the works far earlier. That means one of the conspirators was just 14 years old at the time.

“It’s disturbing that we’re continuing to see teenage children in this environment,” New South Wales police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn said.

Teen terrorists have started to become a regular feature in Australia’s news headlines. On September 2014, 18-year-old Numan Haider stabbed two counterterrorism officers in Melbourne. He was shot dead by one of the two victims. The attack led to Australia’s terror level being raised to high, where it has remained for more than a year.

During the same month, Omarjan Azari was one of 15 people detained in Operation Appleby. He was accused of conspiring with Baryalei to behead random members of the Australian public. During the raids, police uncovered machetes, balaclavas and military fatigues in a number of homes in Sydney and Brisbane.

But the police crackdown hasn’t stopped the attacks. Less than three months ago 15-year-old Farhad Jabar shot police accountant Curtis Cheng outside the police headquarters in Parramatta. He was given his weapon by 22-year-old Talal Alameddine.

More and more Australians, particularly young Australians, are attempting to travel to Syria to join terrorist organizations in the Middle East. In August this year, seven young Australians were stopped at the airport—five in one group, two in another—as they headed to the Middle East. Then Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed to the media that the youths were intent on “joining terrorist groups over there.”

Yet some still get through. One such is 17-year-old Abdullah Elmir, a teenage Islamic State pinup boy who has featured in videos threatening Australians with acts of terror if they stand in the way of the Islamic State.

Even if the children can’t make it to the Middle East, the opportunity to be radicalized is still afforded them by the ample supply of radical communities and mosques within Australia.

Footage circulated last year of a 2013 recruitment video of Australian children as young as 6 waving Islamic State flags and chanting hate speech. It was filmed in Sydney. In the video, one child steps forward and says, “You’re never too young to be a soldier of khilafah [caliphate].” Today, that child is 8—just a few short years and a few more radical sermons away from walking into a police station with a knife or a gun like Jabar did back in October.

With such homegrown radicalism and devotion to pan-Islamism via jihad on the rise, Australians are worried. Government efforts to dissuade teens from radicalizing has done little to ease concerns. The government has poured millions of dollars into Muslim community programs and has spent millions more to beef up airport security. The police are on high alert, and the community is warned to keep wary.

Yet with such vigilance and security, three quarters of Australians believe that a major terrorist attack is likely on Australian shores, according to the latest Newspoll. One in four believes it is inevitable. Two thirds believe the Muslim community is not doing enough to condemn the terrorist acts.

Just 1 percent of the 1,573 people polled believe an attack is never going to happen. One percent. While a poll can never account for the entire population, it gives a general indication of the unease within the nation. People want to know how the enemy can be defeated, but it will take more than boots on the ground in the Middle East. The fight has already reached Australia’s shores. So far the attacks have been limited or thwarted, but it is impossible to completely guard against the next generation of radicalized terrorists.

A child may be arrested in Sydney Airport on his way to the Middle East. He can be stopped, but to what affect? His training already began in the school of a hate-preacher in a mosque or home in the outer suburbs, or via the Internet.

A loose immigration policy and a nonchalant stance toward those who refuse to assimilate into Australian culture has led to the rise of a new Australian-born radical generation. It may be a small percentage of a minority, but it is here, and it is growing.

Australia has long enjoyed basking under the southern sun, far away from the wars and turmoil that embroil Europe and the Middle East. Now the problems are here and need to be addressed. Homegrown terrorism is added to the list of Australia’s woes. Economic dependence on China, flimsy governments (five different prime ministers in five years), an unaffordable housing market, and a commodity-based economy that can’t sell enough of its commodities are all issues of the day for Australia. Together they paint a grim picture.

Our free-to-download booklet Australia—Where to Now? covers many of the issues now facing Australia. As strange as it may sound, Australia—alongside Britain and America—is addressed in the Bible! Yes, you may not consider yourself devoutly religious, but with the land down under coming face-to-face with problems like teen terrorists, can we afford to ignore Australia’s woes any longer?