ASIO chief Mike Burgess has warned foreign intelligence agencies are trying to cultivate Australian politicians.

Mr Burgess has written to federal politicians giving them high-level advice on what to look out for and how to respond.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said foreign interference was rife across the world.

Senator Payne said malicious actors and foreign spies were embracing new technologies to target people at a time of rising strategic tensions.

"The threat is as high or higher than it has ever been before," she told 2GB radio on Wednesday.

"It's been a priority for us for some time now and I think it's a timely warning to parliamentary members."

Attorney-General Christian Porter said foreign agents were trying to infiltrate local, state and federal governments, aiming to steal secrets and manipulate decision making.

"It's not a joke. It happens with enormous regularity," he told 6PR radio.

"People just have to be live to the fact that not everyone who approaches you in public life does so with a benign motivation, and that's just, unfortunately, the world that we live in."

Labor senator Kristina Keneally said ASIO should provide politicians, their staff and families more specific advice about digital technologies as well as face-to-face encounters.

"That kind of support to members of parliament in the face of this rising threat is simply not available," she told ABC radio.

Senator Keneally said there also needed to be a broader conversation about the meaning of foreign interference, how it took place and by whom, and how community members could better protect themselves.

Australian Associated Press