Australian Government introduces draft Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 11 October 2017 07:06
The Australian Government is seeking views on new legislation to help manage the complex and evolving national risks to Australia's critical infrastructure. The ‘Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017’ has been developed based on feedback received from key government and industry stakeholders and will supplement existing federal, state and territory regulations.
The Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017 proposes two new measures:
Firstly, it will create a 'last resort power' which will allow the Minister to issue a direction to an owner or operator of a critical infrastructure asset to mitigate significant national security risks.
Secondly, a critical assets register will be created providing the Government greater visibility of who owns, controls and has access to, critical infrastructure assets. This information will inform the Government's assessments of assets most at risk from espionage, sabotage and coercion.
More information on how to provide comment on the proposed legislation, and upcoming stakeholder forums is available here.
Submissions will be accepted until 10th November 2017.