The Inaugural
All Sectors

Trusted Information Sharing Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection Forum

Dockside, Darling Park, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 9.00am

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Acknowledgements

Other Acknowledgements

Introduction

1.     It is a great pleasure to be here this morning.

I would like to welcome you and thank you all for your attendance.

2.     The inaugural All Sectors Forum marks another milestone for the Trusted Information Sharing Network.
I congratulate you all for the part you have played in its success.

3.     Your membership of the TISN shows a first-class commitment, not only to ensuring your industry is prepared for an incident, but also in supporting Australia’s security.

4.     As Miles’ address aptly demonstrated, working in isolation can be as dangerous as completely ignoring the need to prepare.

5.     You recognise that fact by your presence here.
This forum will, I am sure, strengthen the sense of unity and purpose in building Australia’s resilience.

Partnerships

6.     Already, great collaborative work is happening within the TISN.

Your contributions to the Pandemic, Resilience and SCADA Communities of Interest and your involvement in the international exercise Cyber Storm II come to mind.

7.     Such collaboration comes as no surprise. Australians have a long history of working collaboratively in times of crisis to help those in need.

8.     Australians are resilient by nature.
Ours is a country that faces constant adversity.  Our harsh climate, our geographic location and the sheer size of our continent all have an impact.

9.     We have learnt from experience that preparation, communication and cooperation are fundamental to a quick recovery.

10.   We only have to think of emergency situations, such as flood or bushfire, to realise that by the time the first news crew arrives to cover the event, our emergency services have already been well and truly mobilised.

11.   More than that, our preparation may well be able to assist emergency responders to predict likely events.

12.   This resilience is what the TISN is attempting to replicate for Australia’s critical infrastructure.

13.   Because we are working at this on a united, national scale, and given the complexity of the task, it is imperative that we have a strong partnership between governments, business and the community.

14.   You all bring different expertise to the table, and your knowledge allows a thorough approach to protecting critical infrastructure.

15.   Let me note at this point that the vast majority of hazards do not discriminate.

16.   Natural disasters, computer viruses or pandemics, for example, do not recognise state or national borders.

Nor do they discriminate between government or private buildings, computer networks or employees.

In fact, about 90% of critical infrastructure is in private hands.

So it makes good sense that we all collaborate.

17.   Involving the community as much as possible is also essential to our success.

18.   The Food Sector’s Pantry List launch which I attended in February is a good case in point.

19.   It is about getting people to prepare, to think about what they may need if the food supply is disrupted for any reason, be it a flood, a pandemic or a prolonged power outage.

20.   It’s about making people self-reliant.
Doing so has a two-fold effect.
It helps avoid panic when disaster strikes and allows emergency services to allocate resources where they are most needed.

All Hazards

21.   What this boils down to is having a national approach to a common goal – a secure and resilient Australia.

22.   Part of that common goal is to protect our infrastructure, and therefore our society, from all hazards.

23.   It is naïve to ignore terrorism as a threat.

24.   We may not have had an attack in Australia, but the current global climate demands that we must remain alert to potential terrorist attacks.

25.   Yet, just as it would be naïve to ignore terrorism, it would be equally naïve to believe that terrorism is the only threat to national security.

26.   In this regard, an all hazards approach is one that should be taken.
Importantly, it provides a solid foundation for resilience because it gives us a broader understanding of what the threats are to our business and lifestyle.

27.   Business continuity and risk managers know that you don’t just plan for obvious events such as fires and robberies.
It is not a waste of time or resources to plan for events that may be unlikely to occur, if they will have devastating consequences should they occur.

28.   As we know, there are very few disasters – natural or manmade – that herald their arrival.

29.   One of the most sinister tools of terrorism is the insidious nature of the attacks – we get no warning.

30.   Similarly, a tsunami or cyclone does not indicate exactly when or where it will strike.

31.   These possibilities are particularly significant given the prediction that climate change will cause more numerous and more intense weather patterns.

What Constitutes Critical Infrastructure?

32.   In the past, the definition of infrastructure was generally limited to structures – buildings, bridges, roads, power stations, hospitals – those things that governments built and owned.

33.   But, if we had remained in that mindset we would not have the communications, banking and finance, or food sectors here today.

34.   We cannot neglect these sectors when looking at how society functions as a whole.

35.   Think of the consequences if we couldn’t use phones or computers for work, or had no access to our money.

36.   This was the reality after Cyclone Larry.

37.   In the current threat environment, places where people congregate can also be vulnerable to terrorist acts – shopping malls, stadiums and the like. 
In many ways these are our cultural icons and an attack would cause enormous fractures in our society.

38.   The TISN is seen as the best mechanism through which to engage with those businesses that deal with large numbers of people.

39.   The Mass Gatherings IAAG is the result.

40.   Clearly, a national critical infrastructure protection plan requires the involvement of all sectors.

Interdependencies

41.   As much as it’s important that all the sectors I outlined are represented here, it’s just as important that the interdependency within and between the sectors is as good as it possibly can be.

42.   As Miles illustrated, any attempt to work in isolation is futile.

43.   How can the water sector survive without the electricity that runs its pumps?

44.   How would the food sector distribute goods without trucks?

45.   How would the transport sector run without fuel?

46.   The recent international exercise Cyber Storm II was an excellent example of industry and government working together.
It was also a study in interdependence.

47.   At the post exercise review, a number of industry players noted their deeper appreciation of just how reliant they are on other sectors and vice versa.

48.   This is why the Critical Infrastructure Protection Modelling and Analysis (CIPMA) program is proving to be such a valuable tool for industry.

49.   I know I am preaching to the converted, but CIPMA is a collaborative success story and one in which the TISN plays an integral role.

50.   For those of you not familiar with the scope of this program, CIPMA is able to select an area such as the Sydney CBD and map its critical infrastructure: An impossible task without a great deal of trust and collaboration.

51.   The program is still in its infancy so it has initially prioritised telecommunications, electricity, water and banking – with other sectors following as CIPMA expands.

52.   The phrase ‘virtual insight’ is a fitting one to describe this world-leading capability.
CIPMA gives industry and government unprecedented ability to build resilience by generating data that shows how many buildings and people will be affected by an incident and what services will be disrupted.

53.   So, for example, should a major power outage shut down the cooling system in the banks’ data centres, the banking sector would have, literally at its fingertips, information on how many of their branches would be affected and whether their operations need to be moved to a back-up location.

54.   Clearly, CIPMA has enormous benefits because of its capacity to reduce inconvenience to the public and to restrict the impact on business’s bottom line.

Resilience

55.   That is a prime example of resilience we are striving to achieve – the ability to bounce back in the face of adversity.

56.   The heart of the matter is the protection of how Australia goes about its business, of preparing our economy and our society to recover from natural and manmade disasters which we know are inevitable.

Communication

57.   The role of the TISN should not be underestimated in building resilience.

58.   It makes good business sense to have access to government and industry information that is available through the TISN, to ensure organisations have the best possible chance to minimise the economic impact of an incident.

59.   It is also true to say that industry realises its obligations as good corporate citizens within the wider community.

60.   The industries represented here today are an integral part of our nation’s economy and our wonderfully diverse social fabric.

61.   Bringing you together through this forum gives you the opportunity to talk across the sectors and better understand each others needs and expectations.

62.   It gives you the chance to build stronger lines of communication between sectors and between industry and government.

63.   The TISN will continue to grow, and I encourage you all to be champions of the cause.

64.   The more members we have, the greater the pool of knowledge from which to draw.

65.   This improves our ability to prepare for adversity and quickly recover if disaster strikes.

Conclusion

66.   I assure you that the Australian Government is very grateful for your commitment to the Trusted Information Sharing Network.

67.   I would like to thank you all for taking time from your busy schedules to spend these next two days at the forum.

68.   I am confident that it will be an enlightening and rewarding experience and I look forward to hearing the outcomes from your exchange of ideas.

ENDS