 | |
| Committee overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Parliament House, Canberra |
| Committee executives |
|
| Parent department | Cabinet of Australia |
The National Security Committee (NSC), also known as the National Security Committee of Cabinet, [1] is the peak decision-making body for national security and major foreign policy matters in the Australian Government. It is a committee of the Cabinet of Australia, though decisions of the NSC do not require the endorsement of the Cabinet itself. [2] [3] [4]
The origins of the NSC stem from the 1977 tabled recommendations of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, established on 21 August 1974 by Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and led by Justice Robert Hope, for the creation of a "ministerial committee on intelligence and security to give general oversight and policy control to the intelligence community". [5] [6] [7]
Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser consequently established the National and International Security Committee in 1977. [7] Prime Minister Bob Hawke also continued the format of the National and International Security Committee as a subcommittee of the Defence and External Relations Committee to consider and report on national security, defence and international relations. [8]
The current format of the National Security Committee was created by Prime Minister John Howard in 1996 with a broad national security mandate including foreign policy and international economic issues. Under Howard the NSC also played a central role in the lead up and during the International Force for East Timor deployment, the formulation of Defence White Papers, and the Australian involvement in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. [7]
In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd revamped the Australian national security framework with the creation of the intergovernmental officials-level National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) and the public service position of National Security Adviser (NSA) within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The National Intelligence Coordination Committee plays a central role in advising national intelligence priorities and supporting a coordinated approach by the National Intelligence Community to directions by the NSC.
The National Security Adviser was created without a statutory footing but was tasked with ranging responsibilities including counterterrorism, emergency management, and defence strategic policy. [9] The role of National Security Adviser was disbanded by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2013. [10]
The responsibilities of the National Security Committee include to deliberate and decide on Australia's national security issues, including international security issues of strategic relevance, Australian border security, national responses to domestic and international crises and terrorism, military operations and the deployment of the Australian Defence Force, and the operation and activities of the National Intelligence Community. [11]
The NSC also considers issues of defence acquisition and recommendations from the Department of Defence's Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group. [12]
Its decisions do not require the endorsement of Cabinet. [13]
The Parliament of Australia is not vested with authority for the declaration of war or the authorisation of military operations. As such the NSC, and ultimately the Prime Minister via the Governor-General through royal prerogative under Section 68 of the Constitution of Australia, has the power to deploy and use the Australian Defence Force in offensive operations without legislative authorisation. Therefore, the NSC decides on the use of the most extreme powers available to government, including to kill, capture or destroy. [14] [15] As such, the deployment of the Australian Defence Force is decided by the NSC through consultation with the Chief of the Defence Force and the Secretary of Defence and input from the National Intelligence Community. [16]
The NSC met numerous times in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, with attendance by the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, and former Chief Medical Officer, Brendan Murphy, who began Australia's health response to COVID-19. [17] [18]
On 5 March 2020, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced that the NSC had agreed to new travel restrictions, updated travel advice and implemented new screening measures for COVID-19, aimed to "slow the importation of COVID-19 cases into Australia to enable preparatory measures to continue and to enable a public health response to the initial cases".
On 18 March 2020, [19] a human biosecurity emergency was declared in Australia owing to the risks to human health posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, after the NSC had met the previous day. The Biosecurity Act 2015 specifies that the Governor-General may declare such an emergency exists if the Health Minister (then Greg Hunt) is satisfied that "a listed human disease is posing a severe and immediate threat, or is causing harm, to human health on a nationally significant scale". This gives the Minister sweeping powers, including imposing restrictions or preventing the movement of people and goods between specified places, and evacuations. [20] The Biosecurity (Human Biosecurity Emergency) (Human Coronavirus with Pandemic Potential) Declaration 2020 was declared by the Governor-General, David Hurley, under Section 475 of the Act. [19]
The Prime Minister determines the membership of NSC. Under the current Albanese Government, the NSC is chaired by the Prime Minister with the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister as deputy chair. In July 2022, Albanese added Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change to the committee. [21]
Members of the Committee as of July 2022 [update] are: [13]
| Image | Office holder | Portfolio |
|---|---|---|
 | Anthony Albanese MP | Prime Minister (chair) |
 | Richard Marles MP | Deputy Prime Minister (deputy chair) |
 | Jim Chalmers MP | Treasurer |
 | Senator Penny Wong | Minister for Foreign Affairs |
 | Senator Katy Gallagher | Minister for Finance |
 | Chris Bowen MP | Minister for Climate Change and Energy |
 | Clare O'Neil MP | Minister for Home Affairs |
 | Mark Dreyfus MP | Attorney-General |
Formerly under the Turnbull government, the ministerial Cabinet Secretary was also a member. [22] [11]
As the peak decision-making body on national security, the NSC is also attended and advised by the Secretaries for each respective public service department represented by a Minister on the NSC. As such, NSC attendance also includes the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Defence, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Home Affairs. [16]
The Chief of the Defence Force and other senior ADF officers also attend if requested or required by the NSC. [16]
Other government ministers, such as the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, are invited to attend meetings as required. The Leader of the Opposition is also sometimes invited to attend for important briefings. [23]
As mentioned above, the NSC met numerous times during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic with attendance by the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer. [24]
The Secretaries Committee on National Security (SCNS) (formerly the Secretaries Committee on Intelligence and Security) serves as the peak officials-level committee considering national security matters and directly supports the NSC. It is an interdepartmental committee which considers all major matters to be put before the NSC and supports the whole-of-government coordination of national security policy. [2] [25]
The SCNS membership is composed of the secretaries for each respective public service department represented by a Minister on the NSC as well as the heads of Australian Intelligence Community agencies and other national security related agencies. [12]
The National Security and International Policy Group of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet provides secretariat support functions for the NSC and SCNS. [12]
The Cabinet of Australia, officially the Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Australia, also known as the Federal Cabinet, is the chief decision-making body of the executive branch of the federal government of Australia. The cabinet is appointed by the prime minister of Australia and is composed of senior government ministers who head the executive departments and ministries of the federal government, this often includes assistant ministers and a number of special envoys and other government advisors. The cabinet is separate to the federal Department of the Prime Ministers and Cabinet.
The National Security Council is a federal institutional and consultative body chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as its chairman. The NSC is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and Cabinet ministers. The idea and inception of National Security Council was first conceived in 1969 under the President Yahya Khan, its functions were to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policies.
The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies, policy departments, and other government agencies concerned with protecting and advancing the national security and national interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The intelligence and security agencies of the Australian Government have evolved since the Second World War and the Cold War and saw transformation and expansion during the Global War on Terrorism with military deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and against ISIS in Syria. Key international and national security issues for the Australian Intelligence Community include terrorism and violent extremism, cybersecurity, transnational crime, the rise of China, and Pacific regional security.
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Defence Australia is a department of the Government of Australia charged with the responsibility to defend Australia and its national interests. Along with the Australian Defence Force (ADF), it forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) and is accountable to the Commonwealth Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, for the efficiency and effectiveness with which it carries out the Government's defence policy.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is an Australian Government public service central department of state with broad ranging responsibilities, primary of which is for intergovernmental and whole of government policy coordination and assisting the prime minister of Australia in managing the Cabinet of Australia. The PM&C was established in 1971 and traces its origins back to the Prime Minister's Department established in 1911.
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The National Security Council is a United Kingdom cabinet committee. The Council's terms of reference was said in September 2022 to consider matters relating to national security, foreign policy, defence, trade, international relations, development, resilience and resource security.
National biosecurity in Australia is governed and administered by two federal government departments, the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The Biosecurity Act 2015 (C'wealth) and related legislation is administered by the two departments and manages biosecurity risks at the national border. The Act aims to manage biosecurity risks to human health, agriculture, native flora and fauna and the environment. It also covers Australia's international rights and obligations, and lists specific diseases which are contagious and capable of causing severe harm to human health. Each state and territory has additional legislation and protocols to cover biosecurity in their jurisdiction (post-border) including the detection of pests and diseases that have breached the national border.
The Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS or C2NS), (Urdu: ہیئتِ کابینہ برائے امورِ قومی سلامتی) previously known as the Defence Committee of Cabinet, is the principal federal institution and consultative forum used by the people-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan for concerning matters of state's national security, geopolitical, geostrategic, and foreign policy matters with the Prime minister's chief military advisers, senior government advisers and senior Cabinet ministers.
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The National Intelligence Coordination Committee (NICC) is a peak intergovernmental officials-level body of the Government of Australia responsible for the development and co-ordination of the Australian Intelligence Community in accordance with the National Security Committee of Cabinet. The NICC is chaired by the Director-General of the Office of National Intelligence.
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The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January 2020, in Victoria, when a man who had returned from Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, tested positive for the virus. As of 6 August 2022, Australia has reported over 11,350,000 cases, over 11,330,000 recoveries, and 19,265 deaths. Victoria's second wave having the highest fatality rate per case.
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