Whole of society approach needed to address rise in extremism: Australian spy chief

Canberra, Aug 11 (IANS) The Director-General of Australia's top intelligence agency has called for a society-wide approach to addressing violent extremism after the country's terror threat level was raised.

Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), on Sunday that tackling the threat of violent extremism in Australia requires a whole-of-society approach, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"We all need to watch our language because there is a direct connection between inflamed language and inflamed tension and violence," he told ABC television.

"The media has to be careful about their headlines. It can inflame. Politicians have to be careful about their robust political debate."

His comments came days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lifted Australia's official terror alert level from "possible" to "probable" on the advice of ASIO. It marked the first change to the threat level since 2022 when it was downgraded from "probable" to "possible" after eight years.

Burgess said on Sunday that the threat level was raised because more people are becoming radicalised more quickly by a range of ideologies, describing social media as the greatest accelerator of violent extremism.

He said that religiously motivated extremism remains the dominant force but not the only one.

Asked about the ongoing violent rioting in Britain, Burgess said the factors driving the activity are similar to those that resulted in raising the threat level but that any similar incidents in Australia would probably not reach the same scale.

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