PM pledges $45m for national security after intelligence agencies review

Anthony Albanese has pledged $45m extra for the nation’s spy agencies after a review of Australia’s security organisations.

Anthony Albanese on the Gold Coast this week. Picture: NewsWire / Scott Powick.

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Anthony Albanese has pledged $45m to spy agencies after a review of security organisations warned that China had emerged as a “powerful, assertive and ­authoritarian actor”.

The unclassified version of the review, released on Friday, painted a grim picture of the “challenging” national security environment facing Australia and cautioned that security agencies were confronting “more threats, more complexity and more demand”.

The report found that Australia’s national intelligence community was “highly capable and performing well”, but made 67 recommendations to improve operations, including “stronger central co-ordination” of policy matters and improving preparedness for conflict.

The review – carried out by former public servants Heather Smith and Richard Maude – also warned of the destabilising influence of the “rapid rise of economic security as a policy priority, advances in information and other technologies, high levels of cyber attacks and foreign interference”.

The Prime Minister said the nation’s intelligence agencies were “crucial in safeguarding Australia’s national security” and he welcomed the outcome of the review, while announcing funding of $44.6m over four years to implement the recommendations. A 2017 review recommended broader changes and triggered a significant restructure of agencies.

“We will continue to invest in capability to ensure Australia’s intelligence community can deal with emerging threats and challenges,” Mr Albanese said.

After the review urged the government to finalise its work in overhauling electronic surveillance powers, opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson criticised the government for failing to act on the recommendation.

“Despite promising to move on this almost three years ago, the Albanese government has failed to act,” he said.

“Now we know they’ve also been sitting on a recommendation from the independent intelligence review to prioritise it for almost a year.”

Amid increasing geopolitical tensions, the review also flagged that Russia and China were working to undermine the power of the US and were becoming more aligned after the invasion of Ukraine. “China and Russia are working to weaken the global influence of the United States and the West more broadly,” the review said.