ASIO review of past terror cases didn't extend to prior flag on Bondi attackers

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess gave evidence at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Monday. (ABC News) ASIO director-general Mike Burgess and senior federal and NSW police officers have given evidence at the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion. Mr Burgess revealed the spy agency reviewed past terrorism cases in 2024 but did not reach back to re-investigate the soon to be Bondi gunmen, investigated in 2019. The next three weeks of hearings will focus on intelligence and police decisions in the lead-up to the Bondi attack, but most will be closed to the public. Link copiedShareShare articleThe head of Australia's domestic intelligence agency has revealed that ASIO reviewed past terrorism investigations after raising the threat level in 2024, but a resourcing decision meant it did not extend to a re-examination of the men soon to be the Bondi gunmen. Called as the first witness in the latest phase of hearings at the royal commission investigating the massacre, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess also defended a significant decline in the share of funding devoted to counterterrorism. Mr Burgess told the royal commission the raising of the terrorism threat level in August 2024 to "probable" was due to a deteriorating security environment in the wake of the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. It sparked a decision to review the past 12 months of investigations into terrorism suspects. ASIO's decision to limit the review of its counterterrorism caseload to just the past year meant the agency did not re-examine Bondi gunmen Naveed and Sajid Akram, who the agency had investigated five years earlier in 2019. That investigation into the Akrams' links to an Islamic State (IS) cell concluded the father and son did not pose a terrorism threat or support IS. It is an assessment that has since been questioned by the commission's former special adviser, ex-ASIO boss Dennis Richardson. Today's revelation raises the possibility that ASIO could have learned that the Akrams had travelled around 2022 to Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is a gateway to Afghanistan and an active area for the influential Islamic State Khorasan Province branch. ASIO could have also learned that Sajid Akram had obtained a firearms licence from NSW Police and was legally acquiring guns. Sajid Akram and his son Naveed during their attack at Bondi Beach on December 14. (Supplied: Jessica Rozen) Counsel assisting the commission, Richard Lancaster SC, asked Mr Burgess why the review of previous terrorism suspects was limited to 12 months. Mr Burgess said that was a resourcing decision, despite his insistence that ASIO's counterterrorism resourcing was adequate. "That's a judgement made by our organisation in terms of where we've got our resources, what we need to do at that point in time," he said. "We've got our immediate caseload that we have underfoot that needs resources applied. "We made a judgement to go back 12 months just to satisfy ourselves those individuals and their circumstances haven't changed, and to make sure our assessment is still valid." ASIO decided to limit the caseload under review despite warnings in the National Counter-Terrorism Plan that terrorism suspects from years earlier could pose a threat. The commission did not draw attention to the fact in today's hearing. The plan, which guides the policies and practices of ASIO and other agencies, says: "Experience in Australia and overseas has shown the potential for … former subjects of counterterrorism investigations (known entities) to re-engage in violent extremist activity, including planning for or undertaking terrorist attacks. "Some have undertaken attacks or attack planning years after a point-in-time assessment." Mr Burgess told the hearing ASIO also reviewed the cases of young people involved in deradicalisation programs dating back to 2023 as a result of the raising of the threat level. The ABC revealed last week that ASIO had reduced counterterrorism resourcing to its lowest funding share this century before the Bondi attack. Mr Burgess told the hearing today that while resourcing was "stretched" it was sufficient and no serious leads were left uninvestigated in the years before the Bondi attack. He was questioned extensively on ASIO's priorities in the years leading up to December 2025, particularly decisions in the early 2020s to shift resources towards escalating espionage and foreign interference threats and away from counterterrorism. Counsel assisting Richard Lancaster and royal commissioner Virginia Bell outside an earlier hearing in February. (ABC News: Abubakr Sajid, file photo) ASIO had reduced the terrorism threat level in 2022 but increased it back to "probable", meaning an attack was assessed as more than 50 per cent likely. Mr Burgess said while the terrorism risk grew, threats from foreign states were not diminishing and the agency was left managing both challenges at once. "It certainly st

ASIO review of past terror cases didn't extend to prior flag on Bondi attackers

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