Australian politician ‘sold out’ to foreign regime after being recruited by spies, Asio boss says

Really going out of their way to avoid saying china is trying to fuck us.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Delivering his annual threat assessment on Wednesday evening, Burgess said Asio confronted the spy network last year and was now speaking publicly about it because “we want the A-team to know its cover is blown”.

They looked to recruit students, academics, politicians, businesspeople, researchers, law enforcement officials and public servants at all levels of government, while using false, anglicised personae to approach their targets.

“Most commonly, they offer their targets consulting opportunities, promising to pay thousands of dollars for reports on Australian trade, politics, economics, foreign policy, defence and security.”

Burgess said the counter foreign interference taskforce – led by Asio but also comprising the Australian federal police and other agencies – sought to “stop attempts to monitor and harass members of Australia’s diaspora communities”.

Burgess said he was also “aware of one nation state conducting multiple attempts to scan critical infrastructure in Australia and other countries, targeting water, transport and energy networks” although it was not believed to be actively planning sabotage.

Australia’s terrorism threat level remained unchanged at “possible”, but Burgess said that did not mean “negligible”, with conflict in the Middle East “resonating” and Asio “carefully monitoring the implications for domestic security”.

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