Opportunities

The Australian government has identified the need to secure critical infrastructure against potential natural or human-caused disasters including terrorism as a national priority. Incidents such as the Longford and Moomba gas explosions and the water contamination in Sydney clearly show the impacts of critical infrastructure failure. The reasons for infrastructure failure are varied and complex, thus CIP research must be inherently multidisciplinary. Collaborative research by the RNSA can develop methods and tools that can be applied to examine protection needs of widely different infrastructure. These same methods and tools can also be applied in developing counter-terrorist options.

The RNSA is designed to meet this important government requirement through providing research coordination in the areas of CIP. The network has received strong support from key government organisations responsible for critical infrastructure protection and counter-terrorism such as the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council (CIAC), the Attorney-General's Department, Trusted Information Sharing Network (TISN) for Critical Infrastructure Protection, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet – National Security Division (SET Unit) and Emergency Management Australia (EMA).