Australian spy chief says ASIO was stretched and shifted resources before Bondi Beach anti‑Semitic mass shooting

Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), was described by Director‑General Mike Burgess as "stretched" by a range of threats in the months leading up to the anti‑Semitic mass shooting at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025. The attack, targeting a Hanukkah celebration, left 15 dead in what is the country’s worst mass shooting in decades.

Burgess told a Royal Commission inquiry that ASIO had pivoted personnel and funding from its counter‑terrorism mission to investigations of foreign interference and espionage a few years earlier, leaving counter‑terrorism resources reduced. He noted that the agency had lowered the national terrorism threat level to "possible" in November 2022, then raised it to "probable" in August 2024 as anti‑Jewish incidents escalated after the Gaza war. The rise in antisemitic vandalism, arson and threats was linked by ASIO to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, prompting the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador.

The inquiry also examined Australia’s gun‑law reforms, including a stalled nationwide gun‑buyback scheme, and the broader societal impact of unchecked antisemitism.