'Feeling still out there': Australia's top spy boss reveals details on COVID-driven extremism

The nation's top spy boss has revealed new details on the threat posed by COVID-driven extremists.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess says the next terror attack in Australia is likely to be committed by an individual. Source: AAP

KEY POINTS:

• The nation's top spy boss says extremism driven by COVID-19 is subsiding.
• But ASIO chief Mike Burgess has warned "some of that feeling does live on".
• Burgess said "religiously-motivated" extremism now accounts for 70 per cent of ASIO's workload.

Extremism driven by anger at COVID-19 restrictions is subsiding but some of the anger sparked by mandates and lockdowns "does live on", the nation's top spy boss says.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess has warned the next terror attack in Australia is likely to be committed by an individual, or small number of extremists, who burst into violence with "little or no warning".

Speaking to Senate estimates on Monday morning, he revealed "religiously motivated" extremism now accounts for 70 per cent of the spy agency's anti-terror workload, up from roughly 50 per cent in 2021.

A massacre in Queensland in December, in which three anti-government conspiracy theorists murdered two police officers and a neighbour, prompted National Cabinet to explore a national gun registry.

The Queensland massacre has sparked work on a national firearms registry. Source: AAP / SUPPLIED/PR IMAGE

'Feeling lives on'

Mr Burgess backed that idea, but said volatility seen at the height of the pandemic, including protests marred by open threats to politicians, had "reduced somewhat" since mandates were lifted.

"Some of that feeling does live on, but the number of cases we've been looking at, they've reduced significantly ... There are less people in this country who want to conduct active violence in the name of their cause," he said.

"But there is still some volatility in that mix, with people who have a range of grievances - around [a] social, economic or some conspiracy theory-driven grievance. A small percentage of them think violence is the answer. So it's still very much in the mix."

Mr Burgess said extremism accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic is subsiding. Source: AAP / AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

While far-right groups viewed anti-mandate protests as a "potential recruitment mechanism", Mr Burgess said they had largely failed to capitalise.

"Sadly, they [did] manage to recruit some people. Would I say it's been it was a bumper campaign for them? Probably not. But they continue to focus on how they will attract people to their cause," he said.

"The most likely threat will come from an individual who goes to violence with little or no warning. They're acting on their own because something's set them off, including maybe the group they're in isn't satisfying their need to do what they believe they should do."

Mr Burgess said the threat posed by what ASIO terms "ideologically-motivated" extremism - mainly "nationalist, racist violent extremism" - has subsided since it accounted for roughly half of the agency's counter-terror workload.

He said 70 per cent of terror investigations now involved "religiously-motivated" subjects, with Sunni extremism "our principle security concern in the terrorism space".

Greens senator David Shoebridge pressed Mr Burgess over the government's mechanism for proscribing the 29 groups listed as terror organisations in Australia.

Senator Shoebridge said the make-up of the list - which includes three far-right groups and 25 Islamist groups - does "not reflect the balance of threat" posed in Australia.

Mr Burgess said the official terror listing was part of a "broader counter-terror architecture", but insisted it did not place limitations on who ASIO can investigate.

"It doesn't stop us from doing our job. If we find someone with any ideology that thinks violence is the answer, we will be focused on them ... We don't need someone [to be] listed to investigate," he said.