‘Help us unmask spies’: new plea

Australians are being encouraged to take a more proactive role in uncovering foreign spies, with intelligence agencies warning that more private citizens and businesses are being targeted than ever before.

Political institutions, universities, diaspora communities, industry and media groups are most at risk of foreign interference, according to new government analysis.

Australians are being encouraged to take a more proactive role in unmasking foreign spies, with intelligence agencies warning that more private citizens and businesses are being targeted for foreign interference and espionage than ever before.

A 15-page document touted by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as the “first ever analysis of foreign interference and espionage threats” to be made public by the Australian government contains little new information about the source of the threats but provides a number of “examples” of concern.

Political institutions, universities, diaspora communities, industry and media groups are most at risk of foreign interference, according to the analysis. Several taskforces have been established to counter foreign interference, in particular the Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce (CFI Taskforce) co-led by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police.

In one example of interference in Australian politics provided by the report, a foreign power covertly directs an Australian community member to donate to an Australian politician’s political campaign.

The politician then agrees to the individual’s request to take a particular position on an issue of benefit to the foreign power.

“In this example, both the foreign power and the community member have engaged in an act of foreign interference, but not the politician, who is unwitting to the covert involvement of the foreign power,” the analysis says.

The report does not state whether the examples it provides are of actual or hypothetical cases.

In 2022 ASIO reported that a spy ring led by a wealthy “puppet­eer” with deep links to a foreign government and its ­intelligence agencies tried to bankroll vulnerable ­political candidates in an attempt to get sympathetic MPs elected to parliament.

Although ASIO did not give details, The Australian revealed that the case involved an attempt by Chinese spies to bankroll the campaigns of hand-picked NSW Labor candidates in the upcoming federal election.

Last year ASIO chief Mike Burgess accused “at least three or four” nations of running foreign interference operations in Australian diaspora communities, but declined to identify the countries beyond confirming that Iran was among them.

ASIO boss Mike Burgess. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Targeting of migrant communities was high on the list of concerns released on Tuesday, which identified widespread intimidation, surveillance and assault of individuals viewed as dissidents by foreign governments.

In 2022 the Australian revealed how Cambodian despot Hun Sen and his son Hun Manet have divided Australia into seven zones, each controlled from Phnom Penh, in which Cambodian-Australians are rewarded for allegiance to the dictator or singled out for punishment as traitors.

In another example of interference provided in the new analysis, an academic conducting research on defence-related technology attends a conference in a foreign country, with the organisers covering all expenses. The organisers used the conference to target them for recruitment, the report said.

“After the conclusion of the conference, the academic returns to Australia, and starts providing information about Australia’s national security and defence priorities to conference attendees living in the foreign country.”

ASIO last yeartold universities to hire security escorts for foreign scientists and academics, and keep gifts out of high-security zones to safeguard research from espionage.