ASIO Uncovers State-Sanctioned Plots to ‘Kill and Harm’ People in Australia

People cross a road near Pitt Street Mall in Sydney CBD, Australia on Dec. 24, 2024. Roni Bintang/Getty Images

Australia’s top intelligence chief Mike Burgess has revealed a chilling trend of foreign nations plotting to kill and harm people on Australian soil, as part of state-backed repression targetting activists, dissidents, and journalists abroad.

In his most serious and sober annual threat assessment to date, ASIO Director-General Burgess warned that at least three nations have plotted against individuals in Australia.

“In one operation, a foreign intelligence service wanted to silence an Australia-based human rights activist. The scheme involved tricking the unsuspecting activist into visiting a third country, where the plotters would be waiting,” Burgess said during his speech in Canberra on Feb. 19.

“They planned to arrange an accident that was anything but accidental, with the objective of seriously injuring or even killing the activist.” 

Burgess explained that luckily, ASIO got involved to stop the travel and thwart the plan before it took place.

Plan to ‘Eliminate Critics’

In 2024, ASIO uncovered a plot to eliminate critics of an unnamed foreign regime.

The plan, which extended beyond Australia, targeted journalists, activists, and ordinary citizens. These are what ASIO calls human rights advocates, but what the regime deems as opponents.

Burgess said ASIO disrupted the Australian part of the operation at an early stage.

“They not only involve plans to hurt people, they are shocking assaults on Australian sovereignty and the freedoms we hold dear,” he said.

Aside from these examples, the ASIO director-general highlighted foreign regimes continually attempting to monitor, harass, intimidate, and coerce cooperation from Australians.

“This includes trying to strong-arm people to report on other members of their diaspora community, threatening perceived dissidents and their family members with violence, and coercing people in Australia to return to the country of their birth to face questioning or charges—or possibly worse,” he said.

Coerced Repatriations ‘Insidious’: Burgess

ASIO has identified four or more countries involved in what Burgess described as “coerced repatriations”—tactics used to force people to leave Australia.

Burgess explained in coerced repatriation, the foreign government applies so much pressure that the victim thinks they have no choice but to leave Australia.

“Coerced repatriations are insidious; they undermine Australian sovereignty and law enforcement processes. They are also significantly under-reported to Australian authorities,” he said.

He shared the case of an Australian citizen who had lived in Australia for many years with dual nationality and endured “constant pressure” from his former country’s authorities to return or face historical allegations.

When he denied this request, authorities in the regime began a campaign to break his will.

“How can it be considered acceptable that members of your local community and Australian businesses are secretly tasked, paid, and manipulated to track you down? You receive repeated unsolicited phone calls at all hours from a foreign official demanding you return to explain yourself?” he said. 

Terrorism Threat More Complicated

Burgess also took the unusual step of declassifying some intelligence on Australia’s changing terrorist landscape.

He said terrorism today was “significantly different” from the last time ASIO raised the threat level in Australia to probable.

“The face, form, and motivations of terrorism are more diverse and complicated,” he said.

“Now, extremists are self-radicalising, choosing their own adventure—and often their own unique, blended belief system.”

He said the most likely culprit of a terrorist attack would be a lone actor from a family that had not been connected to extremism in the past.

“We are seeing an increase in issue-motivated extremism, fueled by personal grievance, conspiracy theories, and anti-authority ideologies. This means you cannot assume there is a single type of terrorist threat or even a ‘most likely’ motivation for a terrorist attack,” he added. 

Guests at the speech included Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, members of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and military chiefs.

Anti-Semitic Incidents Raises Concern

Burgess also touched on the increase in anti-Semitism and attacks on the Australian Jewish community, which he is concerned “have not yet plateaued.”

He said Jewish Australians were also growingly conflated with the state of Israel, bringing about a rise in hate incidents.

“The normalisation of violent protest and intimidating behaviour lowered the threshold for provocative and potentially violent acts. Narratives originally centred on ‘freeing Palestine’ expanded to include incitements to ”kill the Jews,” he said.

“Threats transitioned from harassment and intimidation to specific targeting of Jewish communities, places of worship and prominent figures.”

Burgess said while the war in the Middle East had not directly caused terrorism, it was causing protest and increasing division while also undermining social cohesion.

“This, in turn, is making acts of politically motivated violence more likely,” he said.

A recent parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism at Australian universities echoed ASIO’s concerns.

“For the past 16 months, Jewish Australians have faced an unprecedented rise in antisemitism across the country,” the Feb. 2025 report noted (pdf).