Are There Really 200 Would-Be Terrorists in Australia?

During the recent Senate Estimates, I questioned Mr Burgess, Director-General of ASIO, about the scale and nature of extremist threats in Australia. I cited figures of 200 potential terrorists and 18,000 people on threat-related watch lists. Mr Burgess clarified that while "tens of thousands" have been investigated since 2001, not all remain active threats. He stated that the vast majority of individuals investigated since 2001 fall under religiously motivated violent extremism. However, he noted growth in other sectors, specifically - nationalist and racist violent extremists; extreme left-wing groups (anarchists and revolutionists) and broad "issue-motivated" extremists. Mr Burgess declined to say whether the majority of persons under investigation were Islamist extremists. Transcript: https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/are-there-really-200-would-be-terrorists-in-australia/