Australia’s spy agency boss Mike Burgess has warned the country’s current “probable” terror threat rating no longer reflects Australia today, noting politically motivated violence is now more likely.
Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment address on Wednesday evening.
He said the terror threat system was not “designed for a situation like the one we now face.”
Burgess added the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has prevented 31 terrorism plots since 2014.
System
ASIO’s ‘National Terrorism Threat Advisory System’ “provides advice about the likelihood of an act of terrorism in Australia.”
The agency describes it as a “warning tool” for Australians, to inform them about the current “security environment” here and overseas.
The scale has five terror-risk levels: Not expected, Possible, Probable, Expected, and Certain.
Currently, ASIO has set the threat level at Probable.
Speech
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On Wednesday, Burgess said the terror threat system wasn’t designed for the current climate, saying it’s “too simplistic to assume there is a single terrorism threat”.
He said: “Probable does not tell the full story. The next level on the scale is Expected, which applies when we have intelligence about a specific attack. We do not.”
“But we do know... acts of politically motivated violence are becoming more likely than Probable suggests,” Burgess said.
Other details
Burgess also warned of foreign interference in Australia.
He announced an Australian citizen in Iran orchestrated the arson attack on Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Sydney in 2024, while a former Australian resident in Iraq organised the attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in 2024.
Both people were involved with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRCG).
The spy chief said: “I do worry that one day an Australian will be killed at the hands of a foreign government here in Australia.”
He added AUKUS – a defence pact among Australia, the UK, and the U.S. – is a “priority target,” and that a foreign spy pretending to be a consultant tried to get classified information from an Australian official.
Burgess said information about AUKUS was a priority even for nations “we consider friendly”.
