This report offers a multi-disciplinary analysis of the various components that make up and influence the vast and complex agriculture industry network in northern Australia. The report also examines biosecurity vulnerabilities, mitigation strategies for those vulnerabilities and their strategic and national security implications.

This report demonstrates the extraordinary proactivity of Japan towards issues of regional order-building, security and defence policy, and military capability development, and teases out the implications for Australia as a closely aligned partner.

This report argues that Australia should focus on force multipliers for the Australian Defence Force and areas that build foundations for sovereign capability. This will allow Australia to cement itself as a valuable contributor to an integrated trilateral AUKUS defence industrial base and allied supply...

This report describes policy initiatives and actions to safeguard national and economic security whilst protecting freedom of enquiry, promoting international research cooperation, and ensuring openness and non-discrimination.

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Home Affairs’ administration and regulation of critical infrastructure protection policy.

The Pacific will always be an area of great strategic significance for Australia. Peace and stability in Pacific island countries goes to the heart of Australia’s security, prosperity and national interest. This report suggests the need for Australian policy-makers to think big to achieve a...

The objective of this audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s overseas crisis management and response arrangements in meeting the government’s objectives for returning Australians from overseas in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.

This paper analyses the most unexamined component of Australia’s international statecraft - covert action. Such activity by intelligence agencies has become an increased focus of academic research internationally, and the paper introduces an Australian perspective to the debate.

This policy brief makes the case that states should adopt national policies to defend against threats to space-based assets and applications, such as communications satellites, that are both vital to national security and economic security and increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks.

In response to recommendations in the 2015 Independent Review of Whole-of-Government Internal Regulation (Belcher Red Tape Review), to reduce compliance burden and to support entities to better engage with risk, the Attorney-General introduced a revised Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) on 1 October 2018. The...

This report provides a stocktake of all Australia's Indo-Pacific strategic memberships, from the Five Eyes in 1956 up to AUKUS in late 2021. It then ranks all of Australia's group memberships by their current value and potential and recommends how to resource them.

Confusion reigns in discussions about the cost of the Department of Defence’s equipment projects. This report attempts to be a guide for the perplexed. It’s not a technical manual, but a plain-English discussion that unpacks the cost of Australian defence equipment projects.

This study, conducted from March to November 2021, examines prior examples of state-sponsored cyber espionage to see what forms of response the U.S. government considered, what actions it took, and whether those actions changed adversary behaviour or affected other actors’ behaviour.

This briefing paper argues that the U.S.-Australia alliance has an important role to play in contributing to both strategic stability and deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, but realising this goal will require risk acceptance as part of future policy and strategy.

This discussion paper focuses on policy settings for state and territory governments, businesses and the broader economy and is seeking views as to how the Australian Government can best achieve data security uplift at a national level.

This inquiry into procurement practices for government-funded infrastructure examines the context of the 'infrastructure pipeline' and industry’s capacity to deliver, while focusing on the role for federal government procurement in the planning, coordination and delivery of infrastructure projects.

This inquiry report makes 27 recommendations to address the serious threats posed by foreign interference to Australia's most critical research institutions. The recommendations are targeted at securing sensitive, taxpayer-funded research and protecting student safety on campus.

Terrorism and violent extremism in all forms represents a serious threat to Australia’s national security. This strategy outlines the framework in which governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and the community will work together to unite against the harms of terrorism and violent extremism.

A year after what many considered one of the darkest periods in American history sees the United States experiencing the worst inflation in 40 years, more deaths from COVID-19 occurring during the Biden Administration than the Trump Administration, and its closest allies experiencing 'American-style' protests...