On Monday, Australia elevated its terrorism threat level from 'possible' to 'probable', as the nation's chief intelligence officer pointed to a surge in domestic 'extreme ideologies'. Intelligence head Mike Burgess assured there is no sign of an 'imminent attack', but warned of a heightened risk of violence over the next year.
'Australia's security landscape is deteriorating, becoming more unstable and less predictable,' Burgess informed the press. 'I've often stated that espionage and foreign interference are our primary security issues... but intelligence now indicates that this is not the case.' Politically motivated violence has now been added to the list of major security concerns alongside espionage and foreign interference.
Burgess, the director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, noted that 'more Australians are becoming radicalized' and the country is facing 'increases in political polarization'. This year, a 16-year-old was arrested for stabbing an Assyrian Christian bishop during a church service in Sydney, in what police deemed a religiously motivated 'terrorist' act.
