Radical Islamists such as those from Islamic State want to attack and destroy Western cultures and societies such as Australia, the nation's top spy chief says.
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But in the wake of the Paris terror attacks that left at least 129 people dead, ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis says that while a copycat attack in Australia is always possible, he has "no specific information about any particular attack planned in this country that would be reflective of what happened in France".
Reflecting on the cause and motivation of the Paris attackers, and on radical Islamists more broadly, Mr Lewis said: "These people are anti-Western. Australia has been a terrorist target long before we became engaged in the Middle East, but we are as a culture, we are as a society objectionable to them.
"They want to attack us. They want to destroy us. We must be enormously resolute in the way we approach this.
"This [the Paris attacks] is an act of criminality; this is a grotesque distortion of one of the world's great religions to provide an excuse or cover for their actions."
Major-General Lewis said it was "very clear" that Islamic State had already "tapped into" and radicalised young Australians. "That's been well documented," he said.
"We have had three attacks involving fatalities and six thwarted attacks in the last 12 months. To put that in some sort of historic perspective, that represents just over two-thirds of the attacks or planned attacks that we have had in this country in the last 15 years."
In an interview with the ABC's 730, he said there was no "particular nexus" between Australia's involvement in the bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria.
And while Australia's security agencies had disrupted six attempted attacks, the spy chief could offer "no guarantees" that there was no possibility of another attack in Australia.
"We do disrupt significant numbers of these attacks ... but what I am not able to do is provide any guarantee with regard to the future," he said.
Major-General Lewis Lewis confirmed that Australian authorities were still monitoring about 400 "high priority" cases, which he described as a "challenge", but that "you work as hard as you can" to prevent further terror attacks.
He also said Australia's national terrorism public alert system should remain at the "high" level, which means an attack is considered likely. It was moved to that level on September 12, 2014.
Mr Lewis also reassured Australians concerned about the additional 12,000 Syrian refugees who will come to Australia in the coming days and months, starting with a family from Homs in Syria this week, as part of the broader humanitarian response.
"The checks that will be done on the incoming 12,000 Syrian refugees will be no different to the checks that are done on all entries to Australia," he said. "We have a very tried and tested system of vetting of refugees coming into the country.
"That will be applied equally to the 12,000 refugees coming in from Syria, to ensure we don't have this sort of event."
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said on Monday "we aren't going to rush" the processing of 12,000 refugees affected by conflict in Syria and Iraq because the government would not compromise on security checks of the incoming refugees.
