Reporter's view: Kershaw and Burgess deal with worst community division as terms expire
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
Reporter’s view: Chief political correspondent Anthony Galloway writes: This will likely be one of the last public addresses by Australian Federal Police boss Reece Kershaw and ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, who both see their terms expire in September.
It has not yet been confirmed whether the government will extend either of their terms.
Both men have overseen a rapid change in Australia’s security environment since they took over their agencies in 2019.
Burgess vowed to bring ASIO “out of the shadows”, holding annual threat assessments where he declassified details of recent operations and spoke about the evolving role of the agency. This was principally aimed at educating Australians about the escalating threat of espionage, foreign interference and right-wing extremism after the ASIO had spent the past two decades, at least in the public’s view, focused on Islamic terrorism.
While Kershaw hasn’t moved the dial on transparency, the AFP has become a more sophisticated and high-tech organisation as we saw with the Operation Ironside mass arrests.
In the final months of their terms, both Kershaw and Burgess are dealing with the worst community division Australia has seen in years over the Israel-Gaza conflict and the Wakeley stabbing attack, along with a renewed fight with tech giants.
It may be up to their successors to see that fight through.
AFP boss says his 'door is open' to Elon Musk
The news: Australian Federal Police boss Reece Kershaw has accused social media companies of “pouring accelerant on the flames” of disinformation and misinformation following two stabbing attacks in Australia.
The context: Kershaw along with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general Mike Burgess will address the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
Kershaw and Burgess will both urge tech companies to do more to work with intelligence and security agencies to ensure lawful access to encrypted communications under existing Australian laws.
The address by the two security agency bosses come as the Australian government is locked in a legal dispute with X, formerly Twitter, and its owner Elon Musk over its refusal to remove footage of last week’s Sydney terrorist attack on its platform.
In his address Kershaw will claim that social media companies are “refusing to snuff out the social combustion on their platforms”.
“Instead of putting out the embers that start on their platforms, their indifference and defiance is pouring accelerant on the flames,” Kershaw will say, according to a draft of the speech.
“If we consider the disinformation and misinformation from two shocking incidents in Sydney this month, and how that social combustion was propagated throughout the world, we see the consequences of that indifference and defiance.”
Kershaw will say that his “door is open to all relevant tech CEOs and chairmen, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg”.
“I know we can find common ground because, put simply, tech is supposed to make our lives easier and safer, and not the opposite.”
In his address, Burgess will warn tech companies that they are not "above the law" as they seek to expand their use of end-to-end encryption.
He will reveal that ASIO is investigating a number of Australians who belong to a nationalist and racist extremist network using an encrypted chat platform to communicate with extremists overseas sharing "vile propaganda, posting tops about homemade weapons and discussing how to provoke a race war".
"The chatroom is encrypted, so ASIO’s ability to investigate is seriously compromised," Burgess will say.
The ASIO boss will also warn that artificial intelligence will allow a "step change" in the capability of adversaries.
“We are aware of offshore extremists already asking a commercially available AI program for advice on building weapons and attack planning."
The source: AFP
