5 August 2024

ASIO raises Australia’s terror threat level to ‘probable’ amid rising political violence

| Andrew McLaughlin
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ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess

ASIO head Mike Burgess said the threat level had been raised due to increased political tensions and violence around the world. Photo: Screenshot.

Australia’s terror threat level has been raised to ‘probable’ for the first time in 10 years amid rising political tension and violence around the world.

The change was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess at a press conference in Canberra this morning (5 August).

“More Australians are being radicalised and being radicalised more quickly,” Mr Burgess said.

“More Australians are willing to use violence to advance their cause. Politically motivated violence now joins espionage and foreign interference as our principal security concerns.”

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Mr Burgess said the increased level was not triggered by any single issue or ideology. However, rising tensions in the Middle East following an escalation of the conflict in the past week and nationalist and neo-Nazi riots in northern England are believed to have contributed to the decision as these events may have emboldened groups or individuals with similar ideologies.

These events and others stemming from the recent UK elections, the looming US elections, and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere have seen people move to the extremes of both ends of the political spectrum.

Mr Burgess said the war in Gaza had been a “significant driver” of his decision to raise the level. Following attacks by Israel on Hamas and Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and Iran last week and on Houthi targets in Yemen the week before, the US has increased its military presence in the region in a bid to deter Iran from conducting reprisal attacks.

But he stressed the increased threat level does not mean ASIO has intelligence or knowledge of any specific threats or imminent attacks, just that tension levels had risen in the wake of these recent events.

He did say, however, that Australian agencies had disrupted eight incidents in the past four months that are being investigated as possible acts of terrorism, including actual or planned knife attacks carried out by people as young as 14.

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Mr Albanese again called for the temperature of political debate in Australia to be lowered, saying increases in youth radicalisation, online radicalisation and the rise of “new mixed ideologies” had increased tension across the political spectrum.

He said Australians should be able to resolve differences peacefully and debate political issues like the conflict in Gaza peacefully.

“I want to reassure Australians probable does not mean inevitable, and it does not mean it is intelligence about an imminent threat or danger,” Mr Albanese said.

“[But] when the temperature of the security environment is rising, we must lower the temperature of debate.

“No one is suggesting people should have conformity to particular views, but the way people express things is important,” he said.

“It is not normal to have people in occupations for months outside electorate offices, where the work of those electorate offices is to assist people.”

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Capital Retro8:41 pm 06 Aug 24

The IRA were in very active and secret training in the Central West of NSW 60 years ago apparently in preparation for this: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-11/the-nsw-lithgow-plot-queen-elizabeth-train-assassination/101424664

I don’t think ASIO were on to it but a lot of the “locals” knew something was on.

I think Australia’s biggest terror threat is ASIO boss Mike Burgess!

It was just excruciating watching PM Albanese and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on the news last night with Mr Burgess hovering around in the background!

For once, I agree with you Jack. Burgess is just anither israeli owned stooge.

We aren’t able to report any suspicious activity in our neighbourhoods for fear of being labelled a racist based on a recent incident here in the ACT. I bet the UK stabbing case also had its warning bells but neighbours didn’t want to be involved or shamed by the media if it turned out to be a false alarm. Stay safe!

@Sam Oak
Your ability to notice “suspicious activity” is, highly likely, driven by your jaundiced views – as evidenced by the two incidents to which you refer, neither of which have any basis in fact.

Capital Retro11:36 am 07 Aug 24

JS, best if you tuck yourself into your bed and have a good rest.

@Capital Retro
No, I’m good thanks, CR – I’ve been deliberately avoiding the ennui brought on by your nonsense, so I’m feeling quite refreshed.

What a one eyed dog ASIO is these days.
They looked away as the growing threat levels from Hamas supporters took hold of our streets and universities; one England riot from folk sick of watching the slow invasion of their own country, sick of protests for matters that have nothing to do with their own country, sick of divisive politics and cowardly politicians – and its emergency stations, let’s raise the security threat levels and enact news laws that we can use to silence anyone who dares to have an opinion of their own.

Incidental Tourist8:09 pm 05 Aug 24

Australian Dream has proven to unite people even from war torn nations let alone disperse radical views. It primarily focused on affordable home ownership but also includes personal freedom and safety, family, stable jobs with fair pay and conditions. Quoting Wikipedia “The dream flowered in the 1950s and 1960s due chiefly to the expansion of Australian manufacturing, low unemployment rates, the baby boom and the removal of rent controls”. And now we see Australian Dream being taxed out of existence, or outsourced overseas or values diluted which creates a fertile ground for extremes. Australian Dream should be preserved as a matter of national security because It immunises people from extremism and unites them into Nation.

Yeah, better watch out for those dangerous…..Nationalists who care about Australia for Australians.

ASIO are a joke.

Who are these “Australians”, Ken M? Aside, that is, from migrants and descendants of migrants?

Nationalists don’t care about Australia or Australians they only care about inflicting their perverse ideologies on others, faux patriotism is merely the cloak they hide under.

LOL
It’s certainly not nationalists enforcing perverse ideologies on others, Seano. That would be your crowd.

No answer, again, Ken M?

Are you concerned that actually answering would expose your ideology more starkly than is already evident?

No, byline, I just can’t be bothered engaging in your fantasy world.

Which fantasy world would that be, Ken M? The one where you declare “Australia for Australians” then run away from defining or admitting your terms? It is in print for all to see, no fantasy about that.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if the Australian Government stood up for something meaningful – other than praising America and its constant global meddling – members of the Australian community would feel more confident as a people that we are doing something to right the wrongs in the world. We’re very good at ‘toe-in-the-water’ statements and very poor at saying ‘Hey, cut that out, that’s wrong and we as a country won’t support it!’ But, we don’t.

The very first importation of the ‘world’s troubles’ was the arrival of the much lauded First Fleet. Nothing has changed since.

Without the arrival of the pioneering First Fleet, Riccardo, you wouldn’t have migrated here and had the privilege of living in an Anglo paradise.

If it wasn’t the British, it would have been someone else

This was predictable/inevitable because of the mindless woke culture Australia has embraced, which not only allows people into the country who are hostile to it but protects them for being that way by shaming reasonable dissidents. The situation is only made worse by encouraging that hostility through the promotion of self-loathing, such as the war against Australian, white or heterosexual males, as well as the pathological obsession with past wrongs – as though there couldn’t be a more constructive way to deal with the issue. As such, and as it stands, there are people in this country right now – someone’s much loved child, parent, grandparent, or friend – who will soon be dead because of Australia’s (and certain Australians’) insanity, and who won’t even be regarded as being human beings but merely as the few broken eggs needed for the progressive omelette – to paraphrase some callous Marxist revolutionary from the past. And yet still you won’t get through to the numbskulls on the left. This last statement being just as important as any above it.

Queenie-Lou Hilario2:57 pm 05 Aug 24

Sounds like you should be posting at Quadrant.

The irony of this nonsense word salad is that one of ASIO’s main concerns is the rise of right-wing extremism.

That’s because ASIO is now filled with ideological idiots who ignore actual left wing politically motivated violence, and wheel out the “right wing” boogeyman constantly, when no right wing terrorist level violence has happened in Australia, ever.

Vasily M, what would you recommend as ‘a more constructive way’ to deal with ‘past wrongs’? I presume you refer to colonisation and the genocide of First Nations Australians.

Ken M, has there been any left wing “terrorist level violence” in Australia? Given it remains unresolved who was actually behind the Hilton Hotel bombing.

Ken M, please define “terrorist level violence” so that people may assess the validity of your claims. Do you consider there has ever been left wing “terrorist level violence” and, if so, please nominate the event(s).

The vile Christchurch mosque shooter was radicalised in Australia.

Where did I say there had been? I was simply stating that the “right wing extremists” they keep citing have done literally nothing besides have a march. That doesn’t come close to the constant left wing violence, vandalism and public nuisance though, now that you mention it.

Don’t try to skip it Ken M. Define “terrorist level violence”. Then we can review whether there has been any from either wing on your own definition.

No, I did not “mention it”. You are indulging your usual smears absent an argument.

Ken M, I thought you were implying that there had been left wing ‘terrorist level violence’ in Australia. I’m sorry for misinterpreting you.

Nah that’s ok Mousicle. I’m just pointing out that the same old boogeyman gets dragged out constantly, when that side of politics in Australias biggest disruption is a dozen guys having a “rally” in a park.

So there is nothing about which ASIO need be concerned, Ken M? Given you are unable to define the problem, try something with more nuance then “left-right”.

In the last few years ASIO and the AFP have stopped attempted activities based on ideologies of white supremacism, anti-Semitism, white nationalism or white ethno-state xenophobia, fascism, racism; a wish to overthrow or suborn the State in these interests. Significant components are acceptance of violence, and exclusivism rather than diversity. In the fringe of these ideologies we currently have an inquest in Queensland into a fundamentalist religious terrorist attack (it is so classified). Sonnenkrieg and The Base are examples of proscribed extremist groups. You don’t actually have to succeed in blowing something up to before you can be considered a threat.

The problems are layered, not simplistic, with some individuals holding incoherent social and economic positions as often as identifiably one wing, a common thread being violence for grievance.

By the way, your knowledge of history is dreadful. You could not even recall a military coup d’état let alone recent history which is even available to you in Wikipedia.

Yeah, no they haven’t stopped any activities based in those ideologies. You are making up lies.

It is in parliamentary reports, external academic reviews, think tanks,, and the news.

Against which we have your wish it were otherwise.

Try reality. It makes more sense..

It literally isn’t.

You are just happy for people who disagree with your whacky political ideology to be policed for thought crimes and congregating. Not a single, planned act of “right wing terrorism” has been detected or stopped. You are making up nonsense. Amusingly enough though, the pendulum outside of your bubble is on the way back. I look forward to laughing at how quickly your tune changes when the people you agree with are the ones being targeted.

@Ken M
Sounds like this right wing extremist (https://www.cdpp.gov.au/case-reports/cdpp-successfully-prosecutes-right-wing-extremist-following-operation-drumtochty) was nipped in the bud last year – though I expect you would call him a patriot!

Yes, talking nonsense on the internet is not exactly terrorism, no matter how ridiculous the legislation around it has become. They don’t even attempt to claim he had planned any kind of attack.

@Ken M
Why am I not surprised that you can’t see an issue, other than it’s nonsense, with someone whose online activity “… advocated acts of serious violence, including the mass murder of persons of colour and of the Jewish and Islamic faiths, the assassination of certain Australian government leaders and the lionising of right-wing perpetrators of racially motivated mass killings”?

Fortunately, the elected prepresentatives of the NSW people, did not share your view that the legislation was ridiculous, and as such another potential Christchurch massacre, by an ideologically warped grub, was thwarted.

Yet amusingly, I see your antifa and general lefty mates advocating for the same thing against politicians, landlords, billionaires etc etc on social media daily, and not a damn thing is done. Imagine my shick that you seem to ignore that.

Your over active imagination pretending another Christchurch was stopped because they charged somebody for being racist on the internet is pure fantasy.

@Ken M
Really? They are advocating for “… serious violence, including the mass murder” “… against politicians, landlords, billionaires etc etc on social media daily”?

I won’t even bother to ask you to prove your unfounded claims, because whenever your outlandish statements are challenged, you always go MIA.

… oh and if only you could read. He was actually investigated (for almost 3 years), arrested and charged with terrorism and firearm offences. The fact he was a racist was the catalyst for these offences not the basis for them.

I really don’t care how much you like to pretend otherwise, but saying things on the internet isn’t terrorism, no matter who says them. Unless there is an actual plan to commit a terrorist act, this is simply policing thought crime and speech. And if you could read, you would see that he had actually planned nothing and was not accused of planning anything.

As for proof, have you ever visited reddit? It was a regular theme on there last time I looked. Statements like “We should follow Mao for a way to deal with landlords” was common, and applauded.

@Ken M
No pretense on my part, just support for good legislation to avoid giving neo-nazi extremist nutters a platform, where words are often transformed into deeds – hence my refverence to the Christchurch massacre grub.

No – I don’t access reddit.

It’s not good legislation, because it isn’t equally applied, and currently targets one side of the political spectrum while allowing extremists on the other side to flourish and recruit. Take a look at very recent events, for example, where left wing extremists can hold demonstrations calling for the destruction of israel and nothing happens. Some guy with a shaved head raises his arm at a slight angle above his shoulder and expresses the same sentiment, and he is immediately bundled off by police and charged.

That’s the result of poor legislation, and you only pretend it is “good legislation” because it is used against people you disagree with.

@Ken M
Distorting the facts about the protests over the actions of the IDF against Palestininian civilians, and trying to compare that with an extremist delivering a Nazi salute, is rich even for you. If you think such a reprehensible comparison is a justifiable indictment of the legislation, then that says a lot about the kind of person you are.

This is because of multiculturalism. There’s nothing wrong with being a multi-ethnic country, but immigrants used to come with an expectation that they would integrate into Australian society because Australia was a better place then where they’d come from. Now we invite people to come and keep to their old views and ways rather than expecting them to become Australians, keeping old rivalries, biases and prejudices alive. We are importing the world’s troubles into Australia, chief amongst them at the moment being the Arab-Israeli conflict. Everyone should be shocked and appalled by the Hamas attack on Israel, and everyone should feel sympathy for the Palestinian civilian lives lost in Israel’s attempts to destroy Hamas and recover the hostages, but mass rallies chanting “from the river to the sea”, or in other words calling for the destruction of Israel, are a very bad sign for our stability as a nation.

A few minor campus protests are hardly new nor are they a “bad sign for our stability as a nation”.

I would suggest that people being allowed hold differing opinions is actually a good sign of our strength.

Garfield, the First Fleet contained Irish Catholic Republican convicts imprisoned by English colonisers. We’ve been ‘importing the world’s troubles’ for a long time.

Well said, come one come all, but come here and participate, add to Australia – don’t come here and argue, cause conflict, argue with the systems and governance. We are a nation of very generous suckers!

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