National Critical Infrastructure Resilience Committee

Overview
The Australian National Critical Infrastructure Resilience Committee (NCIRC) will co-ordinate national critical infrastructure resilience activity, which includes protection activities. A key function of the NCIRC will be to provide a level of visibility and co-ordination to the critical infrastructure activities of each government.

Scope
The scope of the NCIRC would be to cover issues that require national co-ordination, such as:


 * (a) those related to critical infrastructure assets, supply chains or networks which, if disrupted, would result in significant social or economic impacts nationally or across jurisdictions, and
 * (b) issues of common interest which would benefit from national collaboration.

The NCIRC's mandate will be the resilience of critical infrastructure against a range of threats and hazards, including terrorism, natural disasters, pandemics, industrial incidents and supply chain interruptions. The scope of this body of work is very broad, and many extant bodies have primary responsibility for specific types of critical infrastructure incidents or issues. Accordingly, the NCIRC would not assume responsibility for all critical infrastructure issues, but rather should foster strong working relationships with such bodies.

NCIRC functions
The NCIRC should fulfil the following functions:


 * operate as a forum for national dialogue and collaboration on critical infrastructure resilience
 * identify, develop, propose and promote initiatives that contribute to the resilience of critical infrastructure in Australia
 * facilitate information sharing between relevant agencies to contribute to resilient critical infrastructure in Australia
 * facilitate co-ordination of work on critical infrastructure resilience being undertaken through the NCTC, NEMC and other relevant bodies and agencies, and
 * identify research needs and facilitate research activity to improve the resilience of critical infrastructure in Australia.