Lead

Australia's domestic spy chief, Mike Burgess, has revealed that an Australian citizen working as a senior intelligence officer for Iran orchestrated a firebombing in Bondi, and that a former Australian resident in Iraq directed an attack on a Melbourne synagogue. The revelations came in his annual threat assessment, delivered in a speech on Wednesday night, in which he also detailed the foiling of 31 major terrorism plots since 2014 and defended the agency's resourcing decisions.

Coverage comparison

Two news organisations covered Burgess's annual threat assessment, with different emphases. ABC Australia focused on the defensive aspects of the speech, particularly Burgess's rebuttal of criticism over ASIO's resourcing decisions, while The Guardian — World highlighted the revelatory nature of the homegrown ties to Australia's 'summer of antisemitism' and the broader theme of social media's role in eroding trust.

ABC Australia reported that Burgess used the address to push back on scrutiny from the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which had examined an apparent shift in resources away from counter-terrorism towards counter-espionage earlier this decade. The Guardian — World, by contrast, led with the disclosure of the orchestrated firebombing and the synagogue attack, and framed the speech as a warning about intolerance and polarisation.

Key claims

ASIO's counter-terrorism record

Burgess revealed that ASIO has foiled 31 major terrorism plots since 2014, and that 14 'significant terror-related cases' have been resolved since the Bondi terror attack in December last year. He gave evidence to the royal commission last month and used the annual address to defend the agency's decisions, arguing that 'a security service cannot simplistically pivot from single threat to single threat, it must counter multiple threats simultaneously.'

'Resourcing decisions are not based on a mathematical formula or arcane budget rules, they are continually responding to a dynamic security environment,' he said. He noted that the number of ASIO officers working on counter-terrorism in 2025 was almost double the number from 2005.

Iran's involvement in the Bondi firebombing and Melbourne synagogue attack

The Guardian — World reported that an Australian citizen working as a senior intelligence officer for Iran orchestrated a firebombing in Bondi, and that a former Australian resident in Iraq directed the attack on a Melbourne synagogue. The report said Burgess described these as homegrown ties to Australia's 'summer of antisemitism.' ABC Australia reported that Iran was involved in the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne.

Broader security threats

Burgess warned that the anticipated crescendo of security threats against Australia by the end of the decade had already arrived, including the December terror attack on Bondi Beach, in which 15 people died in an antisemitic terror attack. He said the country's 'degrading security environment is characterised by concurrent, cascading and compounding threats.'

Among the threats he cited were homegrown terrorists, foreign regimes targeting and harassing citizens and permanent residents, spies chasing critical details about the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact, and nation-states infiltrating critical infrastructure providers. He also said foreign officials are trying to coerce Australian residents to travel back to their country of birth.

Burgess said the hatred of Jews is 'one thing virtually all the violent extremist cohorts have in common,' according to The Guardian — World. He also argued that social media is 'amplifying and accelerating' an erosion of trust in institutions, promoting discord and heightening polarisation.

'Whether online or in the real world, when intolerance is tolerated, when violent language and violent acts are left unchecked, they become normalised, reinforcing the impression they are acceptable and compounding the likelihood of further violence,' he said.

Perspectives

ASIO (Mike Burgess)

Burgess defended ASIO's resourcing, stating that the agency responds to a dynamic security environment and that counter-terrorism remained a priority even as espionage and foreign interference demanded more attention. He called for Australians to be more tolerant and give others a 'fair go' to turn down the temperature.

Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion

ABC Australia reported that the commission has scrutinised ASIO's resourcing decisions, focusing on an apparent shift away from counter-terrorism towards counter-espionage. Burgess gave evidence to the commission last month, but the commission's own views were not detailed in the coverage.