The Commonwealth may soon publicly identify countries that are responsible for foreign interference campaigns in Australia. 

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil has announced during a speech at the Australian National University that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had disrupted an Iranian government operation targeting an Iranian-Australian involved in protests over a woman’s death in Tehran. 

She said that foreign intelligence services are collecting sensitive personal information and trying to provoke violence.

Ms O'Neil warned authoritarian and hostile regimes targeting diaspora groups in Australia, such as China, Iran, Rwanda and Cambodia, that the government is aware of their activities and will take action against them. 

“To those states who operate in the shadows, I have a simple message: we are watching you,” she said.

“Where our national interest is served by calling out your operations, we will.”

She stated that foreign interference is a growing threat to Australia and hopes to raise public awareness of the issue to encourage a wider conversation on how best to tackle it.