JOINT MEDIA CONFERENCE - COUNTER TERRORISM ONLINE CENTRE OPENING - FRIDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2026

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

PRESS CONFERENCE

COUNTER TERRORISM ONLINE CENTRE OPENING

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2026

SUBJECTS: Counter Terrorism Online Centre, Antisemitism royal commission, Microsoft outage, Terror alert system, Iranian cohort, Hate preachers, Vilification laws, INSLM terror definition report, Nvidia, Helen Haines, Working holiday makers

MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS, TONY BURKE: I'm joined today by the Director General of ASIO, Mike Burgess, and the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Krissy Barrett. What we'll do is we'll deal with the announcement and international security issues off the top. If there's been issues of the day or something like that, that there's a burning need to ask me about, at that point I'll ask the director general and the commissioner to not continue so that they're only dealing with the national security issues. So, we'll do it that way.

First of all, thank you for coming. Today we opened a new line of defence in counter terrorism in Australia.

The Counter Terrorism Online Centre creates a new capability where ASIO and the Australian Federal Police are co located. For a very long time our agencies have made sure that when there are extremists wanting to meet to cause us harm in a meeting room, that we have the capability we need. Today, we officially extend that capability from the meeting room to the chat room.

When Australia increased, the national terrorism threat level from possible to probable, the Director General made clear in his advice privately to me and the Prime Minister, and then ultimately publicly, that we were not raising the threat level because there was a specific defined new threat or risk. What was happening was two things.

One, the general temperature, particularly in relation to the conflict in the Middle East, was increasing the temperature in the community and then therefore increasing the risk that someone would turn to violence.

The second thing that was happening was we had a new group of counterterrorism concern. A group that was increasingly disproportionately male, younger, radicalising online, radicalising fast, and often with mixed and even self internally contradictory ideologies. That group often congregates on gaming platforms, where in forming relationships with people rather than just starting with a chat, they are forming relationships where they are going on missions together, where they are protecting each other, where they are defending each other. In that moment when people have their guard down, there are operatives from around the world who seek to radicalise people to extremism.

The work that our agencies will be doing in the new online centre, which myself, the Director General, and the Commissioner visited earlier today and officially opened, we have

professionals who dedicated their lives to national security, working in the online space to find where there is a risk so that we can then make sure where people are being pushed towards extremism, they have the best opportunity to intervene before harm outside the online world becomes real. That's the work and that's the capability.

The people who are working in this centre, where obviously the location is not disclosed, but the people who are working in this centre are second to none. They are doing work that will keep us safe. If you think of it this way, you go back around the time of 2001, and you look at our violent extremist caseload. Almost everybody back then had a religious motivation. That religious motivation, overwhelmingly, has continued from those individuals to be, from their perspective an Islamist ideology. That group that used to constitute pretty much the entire caseload now constitutes 58%. That's not because it's going away, but because this other group is increasing and increasing fast. We now have a new capability to deal with that threat, to keep Australians safe.

ASIO DIRECTOR GENERAL, MIKE BURGESS: Right now, politically motivated violence, which includes terrorism and nations state threats to life, espionage and foreign interference are this nation's principal, security concerns.

The national terrorism threat level remains at probable, and politically motivated violence is more likely today than in previous years. In a dynamic, diverse, and degraded security environment, radicalisation is occurring increasingly online, and extremists are engaging with each other behind the walls of encrypted chat groups. This means ASIO and our partners have to be online, too. The official opening of the Counterterrorism Online Centre is another major milestone in our mission to protect Australia and Australians from threats to their security.

Many extremists are security conscious, and suspicious of outsiders and people who self radicalise online have few or, if any, indicators of real world mobilisation to violence. Online operations are typically the only way in which we can identify and engage with those individuals, to understand their intent, their capability, their identity, and their targets. This capability is already delivering potentially life saving results.

ASIO's covert online operations team recently uncovered a private group on Telegram, promoting itself as a global group, for an alliance of ideologically motivated, violent extremists. It brought together neo Nazis and fascists from across the globe. The group shared extremist literature, terrorism manifestos, field guides, handbooks, and violent videos. My officers identified an Australian user who was glorifying, convicted terrorists, and asking others how to undertake an attack. This suggested to us the person may move beyond big talk and potentially be heading towards violence. Their online activity made it difficult to determine the individual's real world identity. However, my officers are clever and resourceful. Their investigation put together the online digital breadcrumbs that enabled them to identify this user. This Australian user, a member of a neo Nazi Chat group who praised mass killers and used violent extremist rhetoric, was a 15 year old. ASIO passed this information to our law enforcement partners, and they closed the case. Given their age and the fact that they were in early stages of radicalisation, the child was referred to a countering violent extremism program.

This case demonstrates the value of our covert operations and capabilities, capabilities that are now being enhanced and coordinated by the counterterrorism online centre.

AFP COMMISSIONER, KRISSY BARRETT: The Counter Terrorism Online Centre is Australia's new national security sentinel that will boost our ability to detect and to protect. This does not replace existing terrorism structures or investigations, but it gives us the ability to put the magnifying glass over the online platforms that seed and breed radicalisation. We know that some individuals, including youth, can be deliberately targeted for manipulation and radicalisation and that radicalisation can happen extremely quickly.

It would be a shock for most parents to learn that some kids can be radicalised within the same time it takes to watch a test cricket match. This means we need a law enforcement and intelligence mechanism that is just as quick and provides a virtual vantage point for investigators and covert operatives who will work together to identify at risk and risky individuals. The Counter Terrorism Online Centre will also provide better coordination and collaboration to identify emerging threats, including the growing number of self radicalised offenders who are choosing their own terrorism adventure.

One of our growing challenges is the increase in the number of individuals who go ideology hopping, until they find their right type of violence to suit their grievance or their tolerance. This is one of the reasons why we are reporting more terrorism investigations where offenders have a mixed or unclear ideology. Australia is now facing terrorism 2.0. where not all the lessons learned over the past 20 years apply today because of the rapid shift in the online threat environment.

Too many kids are at the crossroads to crime. In part, this is because the fertile hate breeding grounds where our youth live and play; gaming platforms, dedicated encrypted communication platforms, social media platforms. The Counter Terrorism Online Centre is not just an investment in our national security. But it is an investment in our future and that includes helping to protect our youth from being lured to hate, radicalisation and violence.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the antisemitism royal commission in exactly five weeks will deliver its final finding on [INAUDIEBLE] NSW police, the AFP, ASIO [INAUDIEBLE]. But to date, no member of your cabinet has given evidence before it, and considering your government drafted the terms of reference for the commission, do you think you've let yourself [INAUDIEBLE]?

BURKE: If at any point, the Royal Commission wanted any evidence to be given by any Minister, it would have been provided and provided immediately. The whole concept of a Royal Commission is that you have an independent commissioner, make the decision as to which evidence they believe is going to provide what they need to give recommendations to keep Australians safe. I think all Australians should have full confidence in the work that Commissioner Bell’s been doing.

JOURNALIST: [INAUDIEBLE] in the terms reference that you put before her.

BURKE: There was nothing in the terms of reference that determined that.

JOURNALIST: I’ve got a few for their Director General and the Commissioner. Were your agencies infected by the Microsoft outage this morning?

BARRETT: Yes, our agency was, yes.

BURGESS: We operate on multiple levels, so one level, yes, but not completely.

JOURNALIST: Is Australia too reliant on a single software provider? European governments are shifting away from Microsoft to achieve digital sovereignty. Do you have any comments on that?

BURGESS: No, I don't. I mean there are multiple providers, but no, I'm not worried about that.

BURKE: Look, can I say, just with respect to Microsoft, just for people to also be aware. I've spoken this morning shortly before the media conference to get the latest briefing from both Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness, the Cyber Security Coordinator, and following that, Jane Livesey from Microsoft in Australia. The perspective of Microsoft at this stage, they do not believe they are dealing with a cyber event. They do not believe that they're dealing with a cyber attack. They believe that they're dealing in some ways similar to what we saw with respect to CrowdStrike, where there is an update that has gone awry.

Secondly, in terms of the impact so far, the impact that they are dealing with is very much on email systems. One of the things that we had with CrowdStrike was a whole lot of downstream impacts where it affected the capability of a whole range of other products quite separate from that. So, that's the latest information that we have, and I just wanted to be able to provide you with that.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned that terror alert system. Your department's been reviewing that. Can you give an update on that and is the government committed to changing that? And Mr. Burgess you were very clear you think it's not fit for purpose. Can you explain what would be the practical impact of using a different system.

BURKE: First of all, the commitment is to the review and then we see what the review comes back with before we make the next decision. Effectively, the challenge that we have at the moment is this, you go from possible to probable when you colloquially cross the 50% threshold. But anywhere from 50% up until where you have specific information of an imminent threat, you don't have an ease of communication method at the moment of communicating how we basically ratchet up. So that's the weakness that is being worked through. I would love if all Five Eyes did it the same way, but we're reviewing at the same time that some of other Five Eyes are doing their reviews as well.

But effectively what the review is seeking to work out, is how can we have the simplest, most targeted way of being able to provide the community with accurate information that is easily digestible.

BURGESS: I think the Minister described the problem well, but in terms of to the point of your question to me, I didn't say it was broken. I just said, I'm not sure if probable describes the current environment. That's what the review is looking at, and we're briefing the Minister next week and Home Affairs, and I'm pretty confident we've got something, but, of course, it's for the Minister to be happy, and then we'll proceed with an outcome of consulting, states, and territories, and then the Minister can announce it.

JOURNALIST: Hodan Abby is the last remaining Isis bride yet to return to Australia. And in theory, her temporary passport expires in the next couple of months. I know you can't speak on operational matters, but given the significance, can you give Australians any indication of if or when she may return to Australia and what sort of security plans might be in place?

BURKE: I'll say two things. First of all, citizens are legally able to return to their countries. Can I say that principle is one that I use to Australia's benefit all the time. There are very regularly people who do not want to return to their home countries, and because of my immigration responsibilities, we make them leave, and we make them go. So, the concept that people will return to their own countries, even where their own countries often don't want them back, is something where it is a principle that overwhelmingly works in Australia's interest.

That said, if this particular individual never came back to Australia, I would not object to that one bit. You would know that there was a point where the threshold was there, and I was presented with a brief to be able to give a temporary exclusion order. Now, that's the strongest power we have. But that was signed, and that was dealt with. At the moment, it is legally possible for her to return to Australia. I suspect the fact that we made that decision on the temporary exclusion order would be weighing heavily on that individual's mind when deciding whether or not they would ever want to return to Australia. I probably can't provide you with more than that.

JOURNALIST: The AFP Commissioner this week said the federal police's hate preachers’ operation hasn't been able to lay any charges today, despite best efforts. Would your government go back to the Coalition and try to negotiate a criminal vilification offence with bipartisan support to properly deter radical preaching?

BURKE: Can I say the only reason we are in a situation where the federal police haven't been able to bring charges is because the Coalition went to water on doing something about hate preachers. That's what happened.

I do not view hate speech as freedom of speech and that has been my view publicly for a long time before I ever held this portfolio. Even before Bondi, we had a report from the anti-Semitism Envoy calling for us to have stronger laws here.

The Coalition called on us to implement all of those recommendations. When we took forward the proposal to do exactly that, the Coalition was unsupportive. Now, the decisions as to if there is a change of heart from the coalition, I'd love to hear it. But I have to say, we had the bizarre situation, the absolutely bizarre situation, of there being bipartisan agreement that we should have stronger laws and then the moment we get to the moment of implementing them, the bipartisanship collapsed. That is a question entirely for the opposition. The only powers that I've had, has been if someone's a visa holder, and I have not hesitated to refuse or cancel visas.

JOURNALIST: Minister, given so many institutions, rely on Microsoft, and as we've just heard, that includes national security ones. Is there a case for Australia and governments in particular to diversify?

BURKE: Look, I'd say two things. First of all, I'd say the relationship that we have with Microsoft is an important one. There is good security work that is done with Microsoft as a business. When it came to the formal cyber agreements, which I've signed on behalf of Australia, the first of those was with Microsoft. That agreement has in fact been activated today to make sure that we get appropriate prioritisation of Australian interests in this.

Across everything, the concept of diversity, it's a relevant issue in trade, it's a relevant issue across software, it's a relevant here across everything. But I would not want to allow that general statement to undermine the fact that there is very significant good work that is done between Australia and Microsoft in terms of making sure we have high levels for security.

JOURNALIST: Minister, next week, the INSLMs terror definition report is going to be tabled in Parliament, and all indications say that it will recommend religion be removed from the motives of terrorism. Can you say definitively whether your government would go against that advice? And for yourselves do you think the INSLM made the wrong call in giving that advice?

BURKE: In terms of the government, the Prime Ministers already made clear that a change like that is not something that we would make. In terms of terrorism, my main priority is making sure that we get prosecutions. That's my main priority.

There is a challenge over the horizon in terms of mixed ideology as to whether we ever might get court decisions that find that because an ideology is incoherent and self-contradictory, that it's not an ideology. The courts have not found that yet, but certainly I think in terms of a watching brief, that's what I want to make sure of. I have no interest at all in turning something that would currently describe as terrorism into something less.

JOURNALIST: Mr. Burgess, what are the national security risks from the Nvidia espionage scandal?

BURGESS: Well, that's about the United States matter, so I won't talk about that. But more broadly, it's an example of how foreign interference occurs. Just, yesterday, the Minister and I were meeting with a group called TechFIT, which is technical industry leaders meeting with the Minister, and myself, and Home Affairs, talking about what espionage and foreign interference looks like in this environment.

So, the effective thing here is the industry is aware of what espionage looks like, and security is a shared responsibility, and they're able to take informed action based on the advice that government is giving them.

BURKE: I should add the Fit in TechFIT refers to Foreign Interference Taskforce. It is not a gym membership.

JOURNALIST: One for the Commissioner, if I may. Have you ruled out whether the Helen Haines attack was politically motivated?

BARRETT: That remains an ongoing investigation, and Victoria Police is the lead in that investigation. Of course, the joint counter terrorism team in Victoria continues to provide support to Victoria Police on that, but it's a matter before court, and it's an ongoing investigation.

JOURNALIST: About the backpackers. Are you going to make changes to that scheme, including delaying the ballot and why would they be necessary so soon after you announce?

BURKE: Okay, so immediately following the National Press Club speech, I had the Assistant Ministers and then myself start meeting with all the various industry stakeholders specifically on this. The parameters of the discussion have been this. First of all, the total number of working holiday or backpacker numbers that I've announced at the National Press Club, I cannot shift from. So, the total number is something we cannot shift from.

If industry can come forward and they have been, with tweaks to what was announced or implementation detail to what was announced, so that they can get the best possible use out of people while they are here, then I am completely open to that. Those conversations have been ongoing. We are very close; the article today has clearly come from one of the people we've been consulting with. But we are not quite at a landing place yet.

The ideal landing place, if I can put it in these terms, is this. We get the net overseas migration outcome that I need and Australian needs and we do it in a way that industry gets the workforce that it needs. If we can do that, then effectively, it's not a single step back from the National Press Club, but it's an improvement on implementation. If you can get an outcome where you're still getting what you were looking for, but you're getting a better outcome for industry, to be able to get the workforce it needs, you'd have to take it.

JOURNALIST: Are you delaying the rollout of the backpackers?

BURKE: As I just said, because the conversations haven't reached their conclusion yet, the article is a bit ahead of itself, but clearly, it's come from somebody who's been in those conversations.

JOURNALIST: And just lastly, the PM says the WA Premier asked the government to reimpose work conditions on UK backpackers. Has Roger Cook had anything to do with this decision?

BURKE: The conversations with the United Kingdom continue. There has been an absolute series of stakeholders, and I referred to it at the National Press Club myself. We had been bound by an agreement that was made before we came to office as part of the Free Trade Agreement with the United Kingdom.

For every other part of the working holiday makers, to get year two you have to do regional work, to get year three you have to do more regional work. For the UK, what the Morrison Government negotiated was to get year two you have to request it, to get year three you have to request it. Now, that has meant when you look at total net overseas migration numbers, we've seen in the order of, I think it's 38,000, the contribution from working holiday makers, growth, overwhelmingly, but not exclusively, but overwhelmingly the UK.

So, what we need to make sure of is if we can find a way to bring that back to something more sensible and in the national interest without jeopardising the other parts of the free trade agreement. That's exactly where we want to land.

Thanks, everybody.

ENDS