Election 2025: Strategic warning on food security

Australia plans to spend up to $360bn on nuclear subs but could struggle to feed itself in an extended conflict, says a landmark report. It wants food security treated as seriously as defence.

An Australian corn crop. A new report wants food security to be placed on par with national defence.

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Australia must elevate food security to the status of military defence, with the nation “highly vulnerable” to disruption of trade routes or imports of critical food inputs, a major report warns.

The National Food Security Preparedness green paper, obtained exclusively by The Australian ahead of release on Monday, provides the first blueprint for fixing serious and systemic food-related “gaps” in national security.

A key theme of the long-awaited landmark report is the need to treat food security – the ability to feed the nation, even in protracted crisis – on a par with defence.

“Potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific is driving enhanced preparedness activity in Australia’s defence force, but that isn’t being replicated across the agriculture sector and food system in a co-ordinated manner,” the Australian Strategic Policy Institute report warns.

“Australia’s food security preparedness has to be elevated to the same level of strategic importance as Australia’s national defence, because one can’t exist without the other.”

The report, based on six months of consultation with more than 20 national agriculture and food supply chain stakeholders, recommends a new food security minister – and that this person joins federal cabinet’s National Security Committee.

“Food is as important to national security as guns, tanks and submarines – and if we are not careful we will learn that lesson the hard way,” ASPI senior fellow and report co-author Andrew Henderson told The Australian.

Andrew Henderson, co-author of the food security green paper. ‘Food is as important to national security as guns, tanks and submarines.’ Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

The report paints a picture of a nation – heavily reliant on vulnerable trade routes and imports for vital food inputs such as phosphate fertilisers and glyphosate herbicide – sleepwalking into a crisis.

It warns this could be caused by regional conflicts, “grey zone” coercive actions by foreign powers, pandemics, climate events or trade wars.

“How we value food in our society and across government needs an urgent rethink,” Mr Henderson said.

“We accept the need to spend over $360bn on submarines, and the national defence strategy has over $50bn, yet we have a food security strategy with $3.5m.”

Mr Henderson and co-author John Coyne describe the paper as a “call for action”, and there is hope in both food and defence circles that it will guide the national food security plan both major parties have this election promised to develop.

The report suggests Australia’s way of life could be quickly impacted if supply of key food inputs were disrupted.

Australia relies on imports from China, Saudi Arabia and the US for 70 per cent of its phosphorus supply, exposing it to “multiple risks, threats and vulnerabilities at every stage”.

“It appears that no Australian federal, state or territory government is currently tracking national fertiliser stocks,” the 48-page report says.

Glyphosate was also reliant on imports or imported ingredients, mostly from China.

John Coyne, food security green paper co-author, hopes the ASPI report will ‘catalyse whole-of-nation action’. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

If unable to source key imported ingredients, Australia’s domestic production of the vital herbicide would grind to a halt within 12 weeks, “threatening the sustainability and competitiveness of Australia’s agriculture sector”.

Without it, farmers would need to return to more labour- and resource-intensive methods not seen since the 1970s, the report warns.

It also flags concern about foreign ownership of satellite telecommunications services relied upon in rural and regional areas, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink and France’s Eutelsat OneWeb.

Digital platforms, from GPS-enabled machinery to real-time livestock tracking, were now fundamental to farming, as well as to irrigation and food transport, it says.

“Increasing digitalisation of the sector has … heightened cybersecurity risks, exposing business … to potential data breaches or cyber attacks,” the report warns.

“Foreign ownership … raises concerns about data security, while reliance on cloud-based platforms leaves systems vulnerable to cyber threats.”

The solution was better Australian investment in rural internet and improved cyber security, the report argues, and recommends the Office of National Intelligence assess threats to Australia’s food security system every two years.