SYDNEY – In 2020, Australia’s domestic spy boss, Mr Mike Burgess, made the surprising decision to come out of the shadows and deliver an annual speech outlining the main threats facing the nation.

These annual addresses since then have often included tantalising revelations about elaborate plots by foreign spies, part of an apparent attempt by Mr Burgess to demonstrate the need to be vigilant as well as the need to properly fund intelligence agencies and to have tough national security laws.