Good afternoon and thank you Professor Rory Medcalf for inviting me to publicly outline our national security risks, and the challenges and opportunities we face as a country and a region.
The impact of overseas conflicts, terrorism in our own backyard, the pronounced fault lines in our communities and the exponential advances in technology are seeping through every stratum of Australian life.
In the past, some Australians may have considered these threats theoretical or too far away to have any meaningful impact.
But cumulative global and local events are re-shaping what Australians consider essential to protecting our nation's sovereignty and national security.
It is always easier to believe and have concerns about what can be seen, so it is no surprise that public anxiety about safety and security is rising, and this is reflected in the Community Consultations Initiative report.
However, some criminal motivation is becoming very opaque. That means there is not always a straight line from criminal to criminal act.
Just like the many industries disrupted by the gig economy, so too has the criminal business model.
This disruption has created criminal amoebas that constantly change shape, split and merge with other criminal networks when it is in their interest.
But their adaption is not just because of tech.
It is because of the collision and collusion between two groups that previously undertook very separate lines of criminality given their differing motivations.
Terrorists, state actors and state officials, often motivated by power and political destabilisation, are responsible for terrorism attacks, foreign interference, espionage and cyber warfare.
Organised criminals, who often align themselves to outlaw motorcycle gangs, traffickers of illicit commodities, money launderers and muscle for hire, are generally motivated by profit.
Their acts of criminality were so separate that many police forces around world had investigators that either focussed on national security or organised crime - and rarely did they share criminal persons of interest.
But increasingly, in Europe, and Five Eyes countries, including in Australia, persons of interest in organised crime matters are being linked to state actors or their proxies.
Law enforcement agencies around the world are uncovering examples where state actors have turned traditional organised crime networks to grey zone offending.
In effect, state actors are increasingly capitalising on existing criminal underworld connections, especially with those who share ethnicity or ideology, to carry out offences such as foreign interference, sabotage or terrorism.
This collision and collusion are in part the product of recent asymmetrical warfare, the growing costs of conflicts around the world, challenges to the rules-based order and good old-fashioned opportunism.
Our diabolical reality, particularly in Western countries, is that individual offenders or networks are now willing to carry out serious crimes for despots, dictators and disrupters.
Power and profit are colliding and colluding with politics.
Some organised crime members or low-level criminals take on this new line of criminal work for money.
Some do not even know who has paid them to vandalise or destroy places of faith, or to deliberately create fear or disharmony in communities.
Others carry out the crimes because they recognise the benefits of taking on a criminal job for state actors or their proxies. That benefit could include a state actor turning a blind eye - or even supporting - organised criminals trafficking illicit commodities.
State actors, officials and their proxies are using criminal networks for three main purposes:
1. Criminal networks are all over the world and are willing to break the law.
2. It gives state actors and other officials plausible deniability when an offence is committed.
And 3. For state actors, it is cheaper and lower risk to task a criminal network than training and investing in an operative to carry out every single action, especially those designed to destabilise a country's sovereignty or national security.
This has been previously explained as crime as a service - but that is just half the story.
Crime as a service has been around since criminal activity began, however the real issue is the danger of criminal convergence and the blurring of motivations.
This convergence can become more challenging for law enforcement to identify, and it also has the potential to confuse and instil fear in the public.
That means we must investigate crime through a different lens. We must look deeper.
For example, offences primarily investigated by state and territory law enforcement agencies, like vandalism, arson, or break-ins at homes, businesses or institutions, may not be clear-cut as they seem.
There are many overseas examples where these types of offences have been carried out by organised crime, on behalf of state actors, to target diaspora, harass political dissidents, steal IP from institutions or fuel political unrest.
The growing number of these cases overseas, and many more serious offences linked to criminal convergence, is a warning sign for our nation.
The playbook of some state actors has already been used in Australia.
The AFP is a national security agency, and we have a sharp focus on those matters.
We have the experience and the capability to identify when there is a criminal nexus between state actors and organised crime. Criminal convergence is one of the biggest threats to our national security.
It is essential the evidence and intelligence identified by the AFP, ASIO and our Commonwealth partners about criminal convergence, continues to be shared with state and territory police and other agencies so they have relevant insight when investigating crimes.
Equally, it is important that we educate Australians about these matters because we also need the public to report anything they believe is suspicious - and it is clear from the Community Consultations Initiative report that Australians want trusted information from national security agencies like the AFP.
I want to assure all Australians that the AFP is up to this challenge, as are our steadfast partners, ASIO, led by Director-General Mike Burgess.
Criminal convergence was at the front of my mind when I announced a refocus and reform for the AFP, as well as shifting our mission statement to defending and protecting Australia and Australia's future from domestic and global security threats.
I have also implemented a horizontal investigations and intelligence structure to better identify these threats.
However, success may not always look like what it used to as we target traditional and emerging crime.
One of the AFP's most powerful levers will always be arrest and charging.
However, in our complex and complicated operating environment, one of the fastest, safest and most efficient ways to protect Australia against some crimes will be to disrupt and frustrate criminals.
That means acting quicker even if it means we can't arrest, intervening on lower-level crimes before they become more serious and using civil action such as our legislation to target unlawful, criminal profits.
I have read with interest the threats that Australians are most concerned about.
The findings from the Community Consultations Initiative report are very instructive because it indicates what Australians value, what their concerns are, and their increased appetite for national security information.
It is important I speak in plain English and not sugar coat the threats we are facing as a country.
Australia's security environment will remain volatile and unpredictable for some time.
Agencies like the AFP will leave nothing on the table when it comes to upholding our mission and protecting our country and our region.
Can I assure you the AFP will carefully consider this report and use it to help us better communicate with the public.
It is incumbent on me to regard this report as the pulse of a nation - and ensure I do my part as AFP Commissioner to ease some of the country's anxiety over our national security.
However, Australians have already given me a head start - and that's because they overwhelming want to prioritise safe and peaceful communities.
I want to thank the National Security College for their invitation today and I look forward to joining Jennifer Westacott and the very experienced panellists.
