Macquarie Government has welcomed the release of the public version of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) as an indication of the importance of cybersecurity to Government and Defence capabilities. 

The DSR, to which Macquarie contributed a detailed submission during public consultation, sets the agenda for ambitious but necessary reform to Defence’s posture and structure.  

The review places strong emphasis on cybersecurity as an important defensive and offensive capability within Defence, and hints at a new commitment to grow Australia’s sovereign industrial capability through updated uplift programs. 

Check out: Defence Strategic Review released to improve the ADF 

“The new regional strategic environment articulated in the DSR underscores the need to include cybersecurity in the Defence reform agenda given its horizontal effect across all five military domains, notwithstanding Australia’s critical infrastructure and systems of national significance,” Macquarie Government Managing Director Aidan Tudehope said. 

“Cyber is a form of power projection which can be used in advance of kinetic attacks, or to cripple critical national infrastructure. It is also a tool of statecraft that is used for coercion, as the DSR has rightly called out. To unilaterally deter offensive military action against Australia’s forces, and to protect Australia’s social and economic interests, high-level cyber capability and the digital infrastructure that supports it must be fundamental to Defence capability.” 

Director Tudehope states that the Prime Minister has rightly called out the ‘need to have greater control over our national sovereignty’. 

“In this context, it’s important to call out local industries that are directly supporting Defence, including cyber security, ICT and space,” Director Tudehope said. 

“When these sectors are strong Australia is less vulnerable to global supply chain challenges and less reliant on our allies and partners for enabling capabilities during conflict.” 

Macquarie also welcomed the recommendation for a biennial National Defence Strategy given the speed at which cyber threats continue to evolve. Its cyber engineers now monitor between seven and eight billion cyber events every day, protecting nearly half of federal government agency personnel from cyberattacks. 

Check out: Cyber attacks to double in Australia in coming years 

Director Tudehope applauded the government’s recommendation to reform Defence capability procurement, focusing on ‘delivering timely and relevant capability’ and moving away from ‘project management risk’ towards ‘strategic risk management’. 

“This guidance will help Defence achieve the right balance of local-ally-partner capabilities to support the ADF warfighter. A balance that will ensure Australia is a capability contributor to AUKUS and not solely a capability consumer,” he said. 

The DSR presents an opportunity for the Government and Defence to be bold in uplifting Australia’s sovereign industrial capability by providing national resilience through robust cyber security, data networks, and space capabilities with the capacity to scale. 

“The Defence Strategic Review has rightly articulated both the threat and the opportunity,” he said. 

“We have, through the DSR, the opportunity for Australian primes to grow and thrive in partnership with our international partners, bolstering Australia’s security, creating jobs, and ensuring scientific and technological prowess that will improve knowledge, innovation and expertise for decades to come.” 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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