Live: ASIO chief says media, politicians should have done more to call out antisemitism

Read the original at ABC News (AU) ↗
ABC News (AU) · collected 2026-09-17 · by Courtney Gould

Quick Summary

ASIO chief Mike Burgess stated in a podcast that he, along with media and political figures, should have done more to address antisemitism after recent attacks. He also warned about China's efforts to hack major Australian power and telecommunications networks, emphasizing the cyber threat from China as a principal concern for Australia.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

ASIO chief Mike Burgess told a podcast that he believes media and politicians should have done more to address antisemitism following October 7 attacks. Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke unveiled new migration changes tightening visa rules for international students and backpackers, with the goal of enhancing Australia's security and social cohesion. The Coalition, however, remains open to collaborating with Labor on tougher migration regulations. Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth dismissed claims that food prices will rise due to these reforms and emphasized the availability of the PALM scheme for farmers to hire workers, stating that backpackers can still enter Australia under new visa rules.

Written for “Antisemitism In Australia Media Politics” on 2026-09-18, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 17128 · logged 2026-09-18

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
41
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
10%
4 of 41 hedged
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Correction & hedging signals
60.2
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Antisemitism In Australia Media Politics
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Sydney Morning Herald
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 23 📰 publisher trust 97
“The articles refer to different ASIO leaders commenting on antisemitism, with Richardson speaking before and Burgess during or after a podcast.”
ABC News (AU)
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 14 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles discuss related topics but appear to cover different statements made on separate dates, not a single specific incident.”

Publisher

ABC News (AU) · 603 article(s) · 2 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 2 correction(s)
2026-09-15
Canberra man posed as teenage girl to obtain child abuse material
2026-09-07
'Her career's finished': Fugitive Sydney developer's daughter avoids jail

Who wrote this

Courtney Gould
7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth says she doesn't accept claims food prices will rise as a result of Labor's migration overhaul.
🔮 The home affairs minister was at the Press Club on Thursday to outline a raft of changes that Labor hopes will put a squeeze on net overseas migration.
🔮 And I think some aspects of the political leadership were wanting too, but it would be wrong to focus on particular people," he says.
🔮 Bowen heading to Saudi Arabia in bid to secure fuel supply Energy Minister Chris Bowen will head to Saudi Arabia next week in a bid to shore up Australia's fuel supply amid concerns about the squeeze on oil in the Middle East.
🔮 In short: One Nation is proposing a radical change to the superannuation system that would allow Australians who rent or pay a mortgage to divert a portion of their super payments as salary for up to three years.
🔮 One Nation reveals plan to divert superannuation to boost pay Australians paying rent or a mortgage would be given a choice to divert a portion of their superannuation to boost their income for up to three years under a One Nation proposal.
🔮 After hearing the story of female veteran Kate, who waited three years before she could find a gynaecologist "happy with the low prices [the Department of Veterans' Affairs] pay", Lambie took matters into her own hands.
2026-08-20 · assertive framing · Lambie sparks veterans debate as Labor strikes deals
More on this subject from Courtney Gould
All 7 articles by Courtney Gould →

Topics

ASIO Australia Coalition Labor PALM

Subjects

ASIO ORG · 7× Australia GPE · 7× Coalition ORG · 5× China GPE · 4× Duniam PERSON · 4× Labor ORG · 3× Mike Burgess PERSON · 3× Rishworth PERSON · 3× ABC News Breakfast ORG · 2× Tony Burke PERSON · 2×

Narrative

" Coalition still open to working with Labor on migration changes, Duniam says Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonno Duniam says the Coalition is still open to working with Labor to legislate tougher migration rules. Yesterday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke unveiled sweeping changes to Australia's migration system, tightening visa rules for international students and backpackers.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18
🔮 Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth says she doesn't accept claims food prices will rise as a result of Labor's migration overhaul.

Claims (41 extracted, 4 hedged)

ASIO chief says media, politicians should have done more to call out antisemitism ASIO chief Mike Burgess has told a podcast that he, media and politicians should have done more to call out antisemitism following the October 7 attacks. asserted
he → say → attacks
New: Filters Choose what information you see below by using filters Rishworth says agriculture sector should utilise PALM scheme more asserted
sector → choose → scheme
Workplace Minister Amanda Rishworth says she doesn't accept claims food prices will rise as a result of Labor's migration overhaul. uncertain
prices → say → overhaul
Tony Burke announced the federal government will extend a ballot scheme for backpackers in their second and third years. asserted
government → announce → years
The National Farmers Federation has warned the government's migration shake-up will lead to higher food prices come Christmas. asserted
up → warn → Christmas
Rishworth told ABC News Breakfast the agriculture sector should use the PALM scheme, which she says has been underutilised. asserted
she → tell → scheme
"Backpackers are still going to be able to come to Australia, let's be really clear about this," Rishworth says. asserted
Rishworth → go → this
"There are programs such as PALM that are available to the agricultural sector that could be utilised more. uncertain
that → be → sector
And so I'd encourage people to explore the PALM program. asserted
I → encourage → program
" Coalition still open to working with Labor on migration changes, Duniam says Shadow Home Affairs Minister Jonno Duniam says the Coalition is still open to working with Labor to legislate tougher migration rules. Yesterday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke unveiled sweeping changes to Australia's migration system, tightening visa rules for international students and backpackers. asserted
Burke → work → students
But he told the National Press Club he would have liked to go further by passing legislation, and blamed the Coalition for not getting on board. asserted
he → tell → board
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Duniam says yesterday's announcement involved "tightening up for a few existing arrangements". asserted
announcement → speak → arrangements
"The door is still open to having discussions around more powers to be able to deal with a broken migration system. asserted
door → have → system
The door is certainly not closed at all. asserted
door → close → ?
And in fact our appetite is equally if not as large, much larger," Duniam says. asserted
Duniam → say → fact
So what does the Coalition want to see movement on? asserted
Coalition → want → movement
Tightening the availability of temporary graduate visas, a "reformation" of the skilled visas list and skilled visas in line with need, Duniam says. asserted
Duniam → tighten → need
The shadow minister also says the Coalition wants to see tightening around the third-party repatriations for people who have been charged with terror offences. asserted
who → say → offences
ASIO boss says China is the cyber 'principal concern' for Australia ASIO boss Mike Burgess has warned of efforts from China to hack Australia's major power and telecommunications networks, preparing to "turn them off should they need to". The warnings echo warnings from the domestic spy chief last year that Chinese hackers were "probing critical infrastructure". asserted
hackers → say → infrastructure
In comments made on a podcast with broadcaster Neil Mitchell, Burgess said the cyber-sabotage risk to Australia is very real " asserted
risk → make → Australia
Nation-states hacking power and telco networks preparing for the day that they can turn them off should they need to," he said. asserted
he → hack → them
"Now be very clear about that — that's not going to happen any time soon, but in a time of conflict, nation states are preparing to do that." asserted
states → go → that
Burgess was then asked which country was responsible. asserted
country → ask → ?
"I've spoken about this before publicly — China are preparing for this. asserted
China → speak → this
But again, they're not going to do it any time soon," he said. asserted
he → go → it
Key Event ASIO boss says more should have been done to call out antisemitism The head of Australia's domestic spy agency, ASIO, Mike Burgess, says more should have been done by politicians, the media and the broader public to address antisemitism in the wake of the October 7 terror attack. asserted
more → say → attack
The comments are similar to those made by former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson earlier this week, but the podcast was made before Richardson's speech. asserted
podcast → make → speech
In a podcast with broadcaster Neil Mitchell, Burgess said more needed to be done to prevent conflation of actions by the state of Israel with Australia's Jewish community. asserted
more → say → community
"When those behaviours are not [met with] 'that's bull***t, that shouldn't happen', what's going on?" he said. asserted
he → meet → ?
"That gave permission for that to continue, and that heat gave permission for violence. asserted
heat → give → violence
But he said responsibility fell broadly, including upon himself. asserted
responsibility → say → himself
"All of us should have stood up more. asserted
All → stand → us
Maybe I could have shouted more," he said. uncertain
he → shout → ?
"Political leaders could have said this is not right. uncertain
this → say → ?
I mean, a couple of them did do that, but not many of them did. asserted
many → mean → them
The media should have probably watched how it was reporting. asserted
it → watch → ?
"By all means be critical of the state of Israel, but actually say, but we're not talking about Australians or people of Jewish faith." Good morning 👋 Hello and welcome to our federal politics live blog! asserted
we → say → blog
I'm Josh Boscaini joining you live from Parliament House in Canberra, here and ready to bring you all of today's federal politics news. asserted
I → join → news
We're likely to hear more reaction about the government's overhaul of the migration system announced by Tony Burke yesterday. asserted
We → hear → Burke
And the PM is off to the United States today where he'll drop into Apple in California and head over to New York to lead Australia's delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. asserted
he → drop → Assembly
…and 1 more, not listed.
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