Australia has taken out 'hive' of spies, security chief says

Australia has busted a "hive" of spies which has been operating in the country for years, its intelligence chief says.

Mike Burgess did not identify any countries behind the network, but said the undercover operatives appeared to be "highly trained".

The group would study and "potentially seduce" targets including judges, journalists and veterans, he claimed.

It shows the threat posed by foreign spies is at an all-time high, he added.

While delivering his annual threat assessment in Canberra, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (Asio) chief outlined a "concerted campaign" to infiltrate the Australian media to shape reporting and gain information on sources.

A "lackey" planned to offer journalists all-expenses-paid study tours of a foreign country, he said, where spies with the "home-ground advantage" would seek to "identify any vulnerabilities that could be leveraged later".

He also detailed thwarted plots from two different countries to physically harm Australian residents. The targets were critics of foreign regimes, he said.

"In one case, the intelligence service started monitoring a human rights activist and plotted to lure the target offshore, where the individual could be - quote - 'disposed of'," he said.

"In another, a lackey was dispatched to locate specific dissidents and - quote - 'deal with them'."

Mr Burgess said Asio had taken out the network of spies after an "intense and sustained" campaign.

"They were good - but Asio was better... working with our partners, we removed them. The hive is history," he said.

But the threat posed by foreign intelligence has been worsening, Mr Burgess said, particularly since Australia signed the AUKUS security agreement with the US and the UK.

"Asio is... busier than any time in our 74-year history. Busier than the Cold War; busier than 9/11; busier than the height of the caliphate."

"From where I sit, it looks like hand-to-hand combat."

Mr Burgess added that it is "critical our allies know we can keep our secrets, and keep their secrets".