no footsy in Forster or you might fester

A politician on the radio was discussing the new shoot-to-kill laws in Australia. He said:

"We should not do anything to help fester terrorism"

Now, don't get me wrong. I take his point, even if I think the new laws are ridiculous. But I was interested in a new lexeme that has crept into Aussie English.

Can fester be used in this way, i.e. as transitive verb analogous to 'foster' except that it has opposite connotations?

I think these two make a fascinating word-pair, where the simple change of a vowel can suggest that you are nurturing either a beautiful young baby boy named William, or in danger of producing a young man who suddenly turns dangerous and violent, growing out of the slime of your obviously dysfunctional family home, possibly nick-named Billy.