The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has foiled an elaborate plot by foreign spies to convince several Australians to "betray their country" after months of grooming, Australia's spy boss Mike Burgess has revealed.
Speaking at the 2025 Lowy Lecture in Sydney on Tuesday evening, the ASIO director-general of security identified the intelligence agents only as belonging to a foreign government that claims it "does not spy on Australia".
"The foreign intelligence service arranged for an Australian to travel by plane then boat to a third country for a face-to-face meeting," he said.
Information on Australia's economy, critical mineral deals and the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact were "high on the list" of the agency's intelligence requests, according to ASIO.
"Little did they know, ASIO was tracking and manipulating their entire activity," Burgess said.
"When the intelligence officers arrived at the location, they were not met by their target, they were met by an ASIO officer."
The story came with a grim warning: more Australians are being targeted for espionage and foreign interference "than ever before".
Assassination attempts 'likely'
Burgess warned authoritarian regimes are becoming increasingly reckless, and said there was a "realistic prospect" that a foreign government would attempt to assassinate a perceived dissident on Australian soil.
"We believe there are at least three nations willing and capable of conducting lethal targeting here."
"It's entirely possible the regimes would try to hide their involvement by hiring criminal cutouts, as Iran did when directing its [antisemitic] arson attacks."
Burgess added that ASIO was also tracking a "particular strain of extremist propaganda" that the agency suspects is being created and disseminated by a hostile nation state despite the material's purported links with a transnational terrorist group.
He went on to say ASIO is investigating several pro-Russian social media influencers in Australia who are "almost certainly" receiving directives from the Kremlin.
"Deliberately hiding their connection to Moscow … the propagandists … use social media to spread vitriolic, polarising commentary on anti-immigration protest and pro-Palestinian marches," Burgess said.
"They want to turn hot-button issues into burning issues, tipping disagreement into division and division into violence."
Neo-Nazis see journalists as 'useful idiots', Burgess says
The rise of the far right and neo-Nazis was identified as another area of rising concern, as such groups seek to exploit rising personal grievance and disfranchisement in society for their own causes.
Using the recent March for Australia rallies as an example, Burgess said extremist groups exploited organisers' complaints about the cost of living and immigration to recruit members.
"Modern neo-Nazis crave attention and publicity. It gives them credibility and helps with recruitment," he said.
"They see journalists as 'useful idiots' in this regard, and they celebrate even the most critical coverage because it inevitably leads to a surge in membership applications."
Burgess named the National Socialist Network — or White Australia as it is rebranding itself — as "antithetical" to social cohesion and confirmed that nationalist and racist extremists make up the significant majority of ASIO investigations into ideologically motivated extremism.
But he also named "provocative protests" by "anti-Israel activists" as a significant driver of disruption, claiming certain individuals were "increasingly willing to embrace or threaten violence to achieve their goals".
"Directly or indirectly, their actions can marginalise, stigmatise and frighten sections of the community," he said.
Burgess likened the rhetoric of Hizb ut-Tahrir — an international Islamic fundamentalist political organisation — to the National Socialist Network.
"Hizb ut-Tahrir wants to test and stretch the boundaries of legality without breaking them," he said.
"I fear its anti-Israel rhetoric is fuelling and normalising wider antisemitic narratives."
Social cohesion 'up to all of us'
Recalling a series of bomb attacks against Yugoslav interests in Australia, the bombing of the Israeli consulate in Sydney, and attacks on symbols of the Indian government in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, Burgess said the scale of threats today was unprecedented.
"Grievance is growing. Intolerance is rising. Anti-authority beliefs are spreading," he said.
"You cannot spy your way to greater social cohesion."
Burgess has consistently warned "language matters" and has called on all Australians to protect social cohesion.
"We do not need to be security alarmed, but we do need to be security aware … and consider the consequences of our words and actions."
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