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The nation’s top spy chief agrees that foreign powers are active at a broader level across Australia’s online space.
ASIO chief Mike Burgess identified China as the nation’s top hacking threat, with its understanding of the domestic telecommunications network now so sophisticated, it could “turn them off, should they need to”.
“They are working actively to understand our systems,” ASIO chief Mike Burgess told the Mitchell Unlimited podcast.
“I believe in some cases they could do it today,” he said.
Mr Burgess urged calm among Australians, as it was unlikely our communications systems would be turned off unless we were at war.
But he warned people should not have highly sensitive conversations in their cars or near their phones, given foreign governments’ ability to listen in.
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Okay…is it not also true that every major defence decision being made at the moment is in relation to the possibility of war in the Pacific against China? I’m not sure why everyone (see federal ministers interviewed by Four Corners tonight) is so blasé about the potential threat of China when it comes to surveillance, whilst simultaneously behaving like China is the enemy when it comes to defence.
I’m not saying a return to the Coalition’s days of antagonism is warranted, but it feels like we’re not doing a very good job of walking the tightrope between China and the US at the moment. Both major powers seem to be getting what they want out of us, but are we getting what we want? Do we know what we want? Or are we sort of just winging it in the moment and hoping we don’t get dragged into a conflict?