The pandemic response has fuelled anti-government sentiment and allowed like-minded people to use technology to challenge and circumvent authorities, security agencies have warned.
A series of briefing papers prepared for the Albanese government, and obtained by Brisbane Times under Freedom of Information laws, shed new light on the agencies’ perception of the security environment within and outside Australia.
The ‘Convoy to Canberra’ protest in front of Parliament House in Canberra.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The Australian Federal Police warned of an “increasingly complex criminal environment” that included threats to Australia’s elected representatives. It vowed to brief the government in greater detail about the required security response for politicians and Parliament House.
“Significant protest activity in 2022, COVID-19 disinformation and negative social media sentiment, has led to an increase in threats and harassing, nuisance and offensive behaviour towards Parliamentarians and against protected establishments such as Parliament House,” the AFP briefing papers state.
Similar themes were highlighted by the Department of Home Affairs, which warned the government of a sinister side to digital innovation.
“The rise of the digital economy globally, and the proliferation of new technologies that supplant traditional forms of communication, service-delivery and social cohesion will create new challenges for the safety and security of Australian citizens,” the department’s briefing papers state.
The Department of Home Affairs has warned of new technologies fuelling “the marginalisation of mainstream social discourse”.Credit:Shutterstock
“The decline of traditional media, the rise of new hyper-aggregating and global platforms, and the marginalisation of mainstream social discourse result in increased potential for radicalisation, misinformation, and the fracturing of our society. Cybercriminals and state-sanctioned cyber actors have greater capability to damage or destroy our critical infrastructure, subvert our democracy, steal our intellectual property, data and personal details, and defraud Australian citizens.”
The department also pointed to ongoing tensions between the United States and China, climate change causing further instability in the region, and natural hazards that will “coalesce” in Australia.
“In the next four years, Australia is expected to face increasingly frequent, complex and interconnected crises,” the papers state.
“Challenges to our national security and prosperity across a broad spectrum, ranging from natural disasters, to state and non-state hostile activity (including more sophisticated transnational serious and organised crime groups, a metastasising terrorist threat, malicious cyber activity and foreign interference) will place significant pressure on the nation.”
The department outlined how security agencies were increasingly responding to the threat of violent extremism, which was “further complicated by the increasing number of minors … who are radicalising, being charged with terrorism offences, or participating in violent extremist groups”.
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