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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-31/fbi-director-kash-patel-australia-visit/105598408
FBI Director Kash Patel paid a quiet visit Australia this week, with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke later confirming he dined with the law enforcement chief while he was Sydney.
Mr Patel, who is a loyalist of US President Donald Trump, stopped in Sydney earlier this week before travelling to New Zealand to announce the US would expand its FBI office in Wellington.
Neither Australia nor the United States publicly flagged the visit, but after he was approached by the ABC Mr Burke said he "enjoyed" his evening with Mr Patel.
"We share a commitment to keeping our people safe, and I'm optimistic about what we can achieve together in the interest of national security," he said.
A source confirmed the FBI chief met with other officials from the security community while in Sydney, but played-down the significance of the stop-off, suggesting Mr Patel's main focus was on his New Zealand visit.
Mr Patel wields significant power as the head of the US's law enforcement but he is also a controversial figure, in part because he's called some of those jailed for the January 6 assault on Capitol Hill "political prisoners".
Greens home affairs spokesperson David Shoebridge on Thursday called on the government to provide "more transparency" over the meeting.
"The minister, understandably, wanted his meeting with a defender of the January 6 rioters, kept secret," he said.
"Equally understandably, the Australian public has an interest in knowing who our minister for home affairs is meeting with, and why.
"Going forward the best way to avoid public concern about meeting with Trump appointees who defend the January 6 riots is not to meet them in the first place."
While opening the FBI's new permanent office in New Zealand, Mr Patel said he was looking forward to working closely with New Zealand to counter the Chinese Communist Party and other threats in the region.
New Zealand is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, alongside Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada.
"Some of the most important global issues of our times are the ones that New Zealand and America work on together," he said.
"The FBI cannot do it alone. The FBI, in my opinion, is the greatest law enforcement agency in the world, and our partners in the Five Eyes are our greatest partners around the world. But we need all of them … to get after the fight and put the mission first."