CANBERRA – Australia’s spy chief Mike Burgess has revealed that almost all foiled terrorist attacks over the past year involved the radicalisation of children, while adding that the range of threats to national security is increasing exponentially.

In his annual assessment delivered in Canberra on Feb 19 evening, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general said the threat of terrorism and politically-motivated violence is rising, with individuals “self-radicalising” through complicated and contradictory systems of belief.

“Of all the potential terrorist matters investigated last year, fewer than half were religiously motivated. The majority involved mixed ideologies or nationalist and racist ideologies,” he said in a speech.

ASIO was concerned that most of the matters “involved minors” who were lone actors or in small groups and almost all of them were unknown to authorities. “It is fair to say they allegedly moved towards violence more quickly than we have seen before,” he said.

Among the examples cited were a 12-year-old who had allegedly expressed a desire to “blow up a place of worship”, Mr Burgess said. “The median age at which minors are first subject to ASIO investigation is now 15.”

Asked about the responsibility of social media companies to prevent disinformation and radicalisation, Mr Burgess said that the tech giants needed to “step up to the plate” on regulating online spaces. In late 2024, Australia passed legislation which would ban children under the age of 16 from creating accounts on major social media sites.

Australia raised its terrorism alert level to “probable” in 2024 in the wake of growing social unrest caused by the conflict in Gaza and a surge in online disinformation. The government has appointed special envoys to combat both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, however major cities have seen a spike in incidents targeting members of minority groups.

At the same time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government has outlawed the use of hate symbols such as Nazi flags in the wake of an increased presence of far-right organisations at protests.

Mr Burgess said there were a myriad of threats to Australian security, including an increase in foreign interference in domestic politics and attempted espionage. 

The spy chief said the Aukus submarine program was a growing target of foreign intelligence, while adding that ASIO had foiled an ...