Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
The 2025 Lowy Lecture was delivered by the Director-General of Security, Mr Mike Burgess AM, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
Mr Burgess is Australia’s 14th Director-General of Security and has led ASIO since September 2019. ASIO protects Australia and Australians from threats to the country’s security. Mr Burgess has spent more than three decades as an intelligence, security and technology professional, in both the public and private sectors. His experience includes code making, code breaking, cyber security, counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence.
The Lowy Lecture is the Institute’s flagship event and one of the world’s leading lecture series. Past Lowy Lecturers have included leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as four sitting Australian prime ministers: Anthony Albanese, Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull and John Howard, who delivered the inaugural Lowy Lecture in 2005.
The Lowy Institute is grateful for the support of our event partners: Mercer, Scentre Group and Boeing.
The 2025 Lowy Lecture was delivered by the Director-General of Security, Mr Mike Burgess AM, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
Mr Burgess is Australia’s 14th Director-General of Security and has led ASIO since September 2019. ASIO protects Australia and Australians from threats to the country’s security. Mr Burgess has spent more than three decades as an intelligence, security and technology professional, in both the public and private sectors. His experience includes code making, code breaking, cyber security, counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence.
The Lowy Lecture is the Institute’s flagship event and one of the world’s leading lecture series. Past Lowy Lecturers have included leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as four sitting Australian prime ministers: Anthony Albanese, Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull and John Howard, who delivered the inaugural Lowy Lecture in 2005.
The Lowy Institute is grateful for the support of our event partners: Mercer, Scentre Group and Boeing.
