Critical Infrastructure Resilience Strategy

The Australian Government recognises the importance of critical infrastructure, including those parts that provide essential services for everyday life (such as energy, food, water, transport, communications, health and banking and finance). A disruption to critical infrastructure — from natural disasters, to equipment failure and crime — could have serious implications for business (including other critical infrastructure), governments and the community.

The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Strategy was launched by the Attorney–General, the Hon. Robert McClelland MP, in June 2010. The Strategy describes the Australian Government’s approach to enhancing the resilience of our critical infrastructure to all hazards.

A significant proportion of Australia’s critical infrastructure is privately owned or operated on a commercial basis. In most cases, the owners and operators of critical infrastructure are best placed to manage risks to their operations and determine the most appropriate mitigation strategies. The Strategy recognises that the best way to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure is to partner with owners and operators to share information, raise awareness of dependencies and vulnerabilities, and facilitate collaboration to address impediments.

The Australian Government has established the Trusted Information Sharing Network (TISN) as its primary mechanism to build a partnership approach between business and government for critical infrastructure resilience.

The Food and Grocery Sector Group was formed in 2003 as part of the TISN, recognising that the food and grocery supply chain is a critical component of our national infrastructure.

Australia’s agricultural and food industries are a large and vital part of the economy. They make a major contribution to social, economic and political wellbeing, creating important business opportunities and employment, especially in rural and regional areas.

DAFF’s role is to maintain the government—industry partnership with the food sector and to provide secretariat support to the industry led Food and Grocery Sector Group.

The Food Chain and Grocery Sector Group has undertaken a strategic assessment of the food safety and security arrangements to identify potential gaps and vulnerabilities in the event of acts of deliberate and malicious intervention or contamination. As a result of this assessment, the Group developed the National Food Chain Safety and Security Strategy to address the key gaps and vulnerabilities.

The strategy recognises that the food supply chain is potentially at risk and vulnerable. It also acknowledges that it is neither possible nor economically sensible to attempt to deal with every risk. However, in the new global security environment, there is a need to be ever mindful of new and emerging risks. It recognises the need to encourage an awareness of these new risks and the need to sustain a culture of security awareness across all sectors of the industry. The Strategy aims to enhance the safety and security of Australia’s food supply.

Download the strategy  PDF [56 KB] or fact sheet  PDF  [54 KB].

Resilience in the Australian Food Chain

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) commissioned a study, Resilience in the Australian Food Supply in 2010, to review, build on and validate policy work undertaken by DAFF on food chain resilience. This was followed by a case study examining the impact of the Queensland floods of December 2010 and January 2011on the food supply chain.

The study found that to date the Australian food supply chain has demonstrated a high degree of resilience, but there are factors on both the demand and supply side of the chain that are decreasing future resilience. The study also noted a number of potential threats to the supply of food and groceries in Australia in the event of a severe emergency.

• Download the Resilience in the Australian Food Supply Chain report  PDF  [2 MB]
• Download the Resilience in the Australian Food Supply Chain report  Word  [2.9 MB]

Hard copies and further information are available by emailing Food Information.