“It can include white supremacist,nationalist,racist views. It can include involuntary celibate[people and] … people who don’t believe in vaccination. There’s a range.”

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi asked Mr Burgess whether ASIO monitored public figures such as crossbench MP Craig Kelly who have questioned the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

“We only monitor people who are involved in violent extremism. In this country,Australians are free to express any view as long as they are within the law,” Mr Burgess said.

While terrorism remains a key threat,Mr Burgess said ASIO anticipated that foreign interference and espionage would surpass terrorism as its principal concern in the coming years.

“On a daily basis,multiple countries are making multiple attempts to conduct espionage and foreign interference against Australia,” he said.

“These attempts are sophisticated and wide-ranging,they are enabled and accelerated by technology and they take place in every state and territory targeting all levels of government as well as industry and academia.”

He said he remained concerned about the potential for Australia’s adversaries to “conduct sabotage against us” byinstalling malicious code in critical infrastructure such as energy grids to launch cyber attacks years down the track.

“Such cyber-enabled activities would be used,or could be used,to damage critical infrastructure in the future,especially at times of increased tension,” he said.

He said ASIO was stepping up its resources and had “dismantled spy networks,recommended visa cancellations and conducted other forms of disruption”.

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