ASIO leaves Australia terror level on probable; on alert for further threats
“We’re looking to see if there’s anyone in the community that has similar intent. It’s important to stress at this point, we have no indications to that fact, but that is something we have active investigations on,” he said.
Burgess said the national terror threat level remains at probable, meaning there was a 50 per cent chance of an act of terror in the next 12 months.
“I don’t see that changing at this stage,” he said as he deplored the “horrific” events at Bondi Beach.
“One incident by itself does not necessarily raise the threat level at the national level, but we keep that under constant review.”
ASIO lifted the national terror threat level from possible to probable in October 2024, saying it “anticipates an increase in politically motivated violence, including terrorism across all ideological spectrums”.
The next level of expected would mean that the government has concerns of a specific terror threat.
The AFP’s acting deputy national commissioner Nigel Ryan said the federal police would “put all resources we can, all our specialist powers, all our specialist resources, towards ensuring that this matter is investigated as thoroughly as possible”.
“In relation to the joint counterterrorism team, we have heard that there has been a declaration of a terrorist incident that will enable the AFP, along with ASIO and New South Wales Police to use specialist powers in relation to this investigation,” he said.
Ryan said he did not want to speculate about leads police were examining because the investigation is ongoing and in its early stages.
Jillian Segal, the federal government’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, said the attack on a peaceful Hanukkah gathering at Bondi “marks the worst fear of the Australian Jewish community becoming reality”.
Segal said the attack had not come without warning, noting inflammatory anti-Israel protests outside the Sydney Opera House in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ October 7 attacks of 2023.
“To ordinary Australians, this moment demands clarity,” she said.
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“What once seemed distant or uncomfortable can no longer be ignored. Taunts from the Opera House steps, synagogues set alight and now massacres at a celebration form part of a clear pattern. This is not the Australia we know and it cannot be the Australia we accept.”
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils expressed “deep sorrow” for the attack in a statement, saying: “No one should ever live in fear of such horrific violence in a public space.
