Three countries are ‘willing and capable’ of assassinating political dissidents on Australian soil, Asio head warns

Mike Burgess says Asio and law enforcement partners are ‘acutely alive’ to the threat posed by foreign agents. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Foreign agents from at least three countries are “willing and capable” of assassinating perceived political dissidents on Australian soil, Australia’s spy chief Mike Burgess has claimed.

While not naming the three countries on Tuesday evening, Burgess, the director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, warned of the risk of a politically motivated assassination in Australia and said: “This threat is real.”