NATIONAL SECURITY – AUSTRALIA

Albanese’s message for ISIS brides: no sympathy and expect full force of the law

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 18-Feb-26

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says the latest group of so-called ISIS brides in Syria who are seeking to return to Australia should not be allowed to do so. He contends that "the door must be shut" to people who do not believe in Australian values, and he has called for transparency from the federal government regarding its management of the 34 women and children. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that the government is "providing absolutely no support" to the ISIS brides and is not repatriating them. He adds that the cohort will "face the full force of Australian law" if they return and are found to have committed any offences. A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has indicated that he is getting advice as whether some of the 11 women and 23 children can be barred from Australia via temporary exclusion orders.

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Eyes wide shut on extremist threats

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Original article by Geoff Chambers, Janet Albrechtsen
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 24-Dec-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended his relationship with law-enforcement and intelligence agencies in the wake of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack. However, he has declined to confirm whether Labor has implemented all of the recommendations made in Dennis Richardson’s 2019 review of the legal framework of the national intelligence community. The former head of ASIO will undertake a new review of federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies as part of the government’s response to the terrorist attack. Meanwhile, a senior law enforcement figure has accused the government of "wilful blindness" on the issue of anti-Semitism and extremism, contending that it had been repeatedly warned of the "growing and foreseeable threat" in the last several years.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Spy boss warns of realistic possibility of foreign-ordered killings in Australia

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Original article by Matthew Knott
The Age – Page: Online : 5-Nov-25

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s director-general Mike Burgess says there are "multiple, cascading and intersecting threats" to Australia’s social cohesion. He has used a Lowy Institute speech to warn that there is a realistic possibility that foreign governments will attempt to assassinate dissidents in Australia, and ASIO believes that least three nations are willing and capable of doing so. Burgess also identified a number of other threats, including state-sanctioned trolls, neo-Nazis, extreme anti-Israel activists and Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir; the latter is not a designated terrorist group in Australia, although it is in countries such as the UK.

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AUSTRALIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION

Warning to Aussies over new Russian weapon

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Original article by James King
Herald Sun – Page: Online : 15-Oct-25

The US Studies Centre will host a forum on Russian disinformation and foreign influence campaigns in Sydney on Thursday. The speakers include Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko; he will warn that Russia is targeting Australia with fake narratives that it could ‘weaponise’ against local communities in the event of conflict. He will emphasise the need to counter such disinformation before it spreads and becomes "too powerful". Former Ukrainian diplomat Natalia Solieva will in turn argue that unlike war on a battlefield, disinformation has no geographical borders, and it can emerge during elections or when society is most divided and vulnerable.

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UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. UNITED STATES STUDIES CENTRE

World now in grey-zone warfare

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Original article by Noah Yim
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 8-Oct-25

The Office of National Intelligence’s director-general Andrew Shearer has doubled down on his recent warning about the growing global security threat. He says grey-zone warfare has become central to strategic rivalry in the global struggle between a new "axis of authoritarian powers" and democracies. He contends that actions such as cyber attacks, political interference, disinformation and economic coercion aim to weaken cohesion within democracies such as Australia and between allies, and to make the world safer for authoritarianism. Shearer also noted that China’s military parade in September was designed to send a "clear message" that the nation’s military capabilities and intent are "advancing in step".

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AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Online warning: Digital war has already started

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 17-Sep-25

The head of the Australian Defence Force’s cyber and space operations, Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, addressed the Financial Review Cyber Summit yesterday. Coyle warned that Australia is already at war in the cyber domain; she added that although the nature of war has not changed, the technology to wage war is changing. Coyle noted that Australia will be vulnerable if it does not secure the cyber domain, given that the nation’s critical infrastructure and the ADF’s own military equipment are reliant on it. Alastair MacGibbon from CyberCX in turn warned that devices connected to a hostile ‘totalitarian state’ could be weaponised, including household energy storage batteries and electric vehicles.

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AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE, CYBERCX PTY LTD

Russia’s base instinct: shadow of Putin hangs over election campaign

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Original article by Amanda Hodge
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 16-Apr-25

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his government is seeking clarification from its Indonesian counterpart regarding a formal request from Russia to base military aircraft in the province of Papua. The government has stated that Indonesia’s Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin has dismissed reports in a defence publication that Russian aircraft may operate out of Indonesia, and just 1,300km from the Australian mainland. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has warned that a Russian military presence in the Indo-Pacific region would be "deeply destabilising" and says the federal government must disclose whether it had been aware of Russia’s request before it was made public.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, INDONESIA. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Chinese expose navy’s chronic decline

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Original article by Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 25-Feb-25

Analysis shows that the Royal Australian Navy has retired 14 surface ships from service since the federal government took office in May 2022. Four new patrol boats have been added to the navy’s fleet over this period, and the navy now has just 25 surface vessels. Former rear admiral Rowan Moffitt says the navy is in "serious, accelerating and chronic decline", although he emphasises that this has been developing for more than two decades. The strength of the nation’s defence force has been under scrutiny in the wake of revelations that the Chinese navy has conducted live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea.

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ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Security ban for DeepSeek AI

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Original article by Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 5-Feb-25

The Department of Home Affairs has issued a protective ­security order which bans the use of DeepSeek on all federal government devices. Every government department and agency has been directed to remove the artificial intelligence app from their systems and devices, prevent future access to the app and report compliance with the order to Home Affairs. The total ban follows an assessment by intelligence agencies that the software poses an "unacceptable risk" to national security. Chinese short-video app TikTok was banned on all federal government-issued devices in 2023 due to similar concerns.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

‘Don’t panic over DeepSeek national security threat’

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Original article by Tom McIlroy, Andrew Tillett
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 30-Jan-25

Former Australian Signals Directorate executive Simeon Gilding has downplayed concerns about the national security implications of China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot. Gilding contends that Chinese-made electric vehicles are a bigger security concern, given that they "suck up data" and send it back to China, where it could potentially be accessed by the Communist Party. He adds that it is too soon to consider banning DeepSeek in Australia, but says this could change if China’s security services start trying to imbed the technology into critical infrastructure and services.

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AUSTRALIAN SIGNALS DIRECTORATE