Antisemitism warnings underestimated before Bondi terror attack, ASIO chief says

Melbourne: ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess has expressed frustration and “deep regret” that repeated warnings about the deadly threat posed by rising antisemitism were underestimated by people in leadership positions before the Bondi terror attack.

In his first in-depth interview since the massacre, conducted for the book Bondi Terror, Australia’s spy chief questioned whether he could have done more to sound the alarm over the country’s deteriorating security environment.

Burgess said antisemitic conduct had increasingly become normalised, creating an environment in which politically motivated violence was more likely to occur.

“I was concerned about the trajectory of our threat environment, and I made that known publicly,” he said.

“Of course, it is a matter of deep regret. Could I have done more? Perhaps yes, I could have shouted stronger, but in the end, I would suggest security is a shared responsibility in society, and others actually had to take up that call, either challenge me for more details or take action.”

Burgess cautioned against judging past decisions solely through hindsight, saying both its benefits and limitations needed to be recognised.

His firm view is that the antisemitism that first emerged publicly around the Sydney Opera House rally was not adequately challenged by law enforcement or political and community leaders. As a result, he said, threatening and discriminatory behaviour gradually became normalised.

“I was concerned about this and concerned about behaviours being normalised,” he said.

“Those behaviours being normalised raised the temperature, which increased the permission for politically motivated violence.”

Burgess said Australia subsequently witnessed an escalation from threats and intimidation to the direct targeting of Jewish individuals, businesses and places of worship, ultimately culminating in the killing of Jewish Australians.

Mike Burgess expresses “deep regret,” warning that the normalisation of antisemitic behaviour created greater scope for politically motivated violence

Reflecting on one of history’s darkest lessons, the ASIO chief warned that even otherwise decent people could be drawn into wrongdoing when hatred and extremism were allowed to become socially acceptable.

“Generally, people are good. Very few people are evil. Very few people want to kill others,” he said.

“But sadly, the weight of history tells you that even good people can be drawn into bad things, and then they just accept it. Look at Germany: there were many good people that joined that wagon, and look what happened.”

Following the October 7 attacks, Australia experienced an escalating wave of antisemitic incidents, ranging from hate-filled demonstrations and vandalism to firebombings and the targeting of Jewish individuals and institutions.

Throughout that period, Burgess emerged as one of the country’s strongest public voices warning about the changing threat environment. His warnings were directed at the wider community, but particularly at leaders across government and law enforcement.

An investigation conducted for Bondi Terror claims that counterterrorism’s share of resources across the Australian intelligence community fell in the years preceding the Bondi attack.

According to classified documents cited in the investigation, counterterrorism accounted for 23 per cent of intelligence resources in 2019–20. By 2025, that proportion had reportedly fallen to less than 16 per cent.

Confidential sources further claimed that counterterrorism received about 19 per cent of overall Australian intelligence community funding by the time of the Bondi attack. The investigation also alleged that ASIO’s baseline funding had not kept pace with inflation and that none of its additional funding had been specifically earmarked for counterterrorism programs.

Well-informed sources argued that counterterrorism funding for ASIO, Home Affairs, Defence, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other agencies should have been increased in the December 2024 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

That followed the decision in August 2024 to raise Australia’s national terrorism threat level to “probable,” indicating a greater than 50 per cent chance of an onshore terrorist attack or planned attack within the following 12 months.

The sources also maintained that the May 2025 Federal Budget should have included a substantial increase in counterterrorism funding for ASIO.

Burgess declined to comment directly on the reported figures but rejected suggestions that ASIO’s counterterrorism funding had declined. He said funding had increased in response to the higher national terrorism threat level and investigations into Iran’s activities in Australia.

The reported decline in counterterrorism funding across the wider intelligence community came as Burgess told a Senate committee that antisemitism had become the nation’s “number one priority in terms of threat to life” because of the volume and severity of incidents occurring across Australia.

Burgess said he became immediately concerned after witnessing the eruption of hatred in western Sydney on October 8 and at the October 9 Town Hall rally, which later moved to the Opera House.

It became clear, he said, that the tensions were not confined to the Middle East and that antisemitism represented a serious and growing problem within Australia.

“We don’t understand the weight of this problem, and until we understand that, we can’t really do something about it,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of October 7, Burgess remained confident that ASIO had the capacity to detect and manage emerging threats. Ten months later, however, his assessment of Australia’s security environment had changed dramatically.

He subsequently recommended that the Albanese government formally raise the national terrorism threat level to “probable,” reflecting the increased risk of an attack occurring on Australian soil.