CANBERRA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Australia's spy boss has admitted that he is unsure of what is driving an increase in far-right extremism in the country.
Mike Burgess, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), told a Senate hearing on Monday that there has been a marked increase in far-right activity in Australia in recent years.
"There's a few trends there but we do not fully understand why this is occurring," he said.
It comes after Burgess used the Annual Threat Assessment in February to warn of extremist cells meeting in suburban Australia to "salute Nazi flags, inspect weapons, train in combat and share their hateful ideology."
"We expect such groups will remain an enduring threat, making use of online propaganda to spread their messages of hate," he said in the speech.
Right-wing extremism became a national talking point in Australia following the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, over which Australian man Brenton Tarrant stands accused of killing 51 people.
