Australian Spy Chief Says Foreign Regime Turned Ex-Lawmaker

  • Head of ASIO warns about foreign interference in annual speech
  • Australian spies worry about community rifts over Middle East
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation headquarters, in Canberra, Australia.Photographer: Rohan Thomson/Bloomberg
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Australia’s domestic spy chief has revealed a foreign regime recruited a former lawmaker as part of a plan to access classified information via high profile figures, including a member of a prime minister’s family.

Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, warned that the threat of foreign interference was at its highest levels yet, according to his annual threat assessment delivered in Canberra.