Australians concerned they’re the target of foreign spies have been urged to alert authorities under a fresh campaign to fight foreign interference.
The federal police will launch the grassroots campaign on Monday to better educate Australia’s multicultural communities amid fears potential crimes are going unreported.
The move comes less than a week after ASIO boss Mike Burgess warned the threat posed by foreign spies was at an all time high.
Mr Burgess also revealed the agency had busted a “hive of spies” who had recruited proxies and agents before being deported in the past 12 months.
AFP special investigations commander Stephen Nutt said the threat of being targeted was not specific to just one sector or community.
“Foreign state actors that undertake hostile activity against other countries are creating and pursuing opportunities to interfere with Australians – from decision-makers at all levels of government, across a range of sectors, and our communities,” he said in a statement.
Mr Nutt said the AFP would use its network of liaison officers to distribute foreign interference fact sheets, which will be printed in 30 different languages, to vulnerable communities.
The sheets will explain “what foreign interference is, how it manifests and where victims can seek assistance”.
“On a community level, foreign interference is defined as threats and intimidation directed, supervised or financed by foreign governments and targeted towards (culturally and linguistically diverse) communities in order to cause harm and impact on Australia’s multicultural way of life,” Mr Nutt said.
Those concerned they are being targeted have been urged to phone the national security hotline.
Earlier this month, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil used a speech to name and shame Iran, revealing ASIO had disrupted a plot targeting a dissent protesting against the death of a woman in Tehran.
But the AFP has elected to keep the campaign “country neutral”.