Government Coordination and Vulnerable Infrastructures

 Project aims and objectives:

This project aims at assessing cooperation of government and industry in the field of vulnerable infrastructure protection. Public and private actors have developed a number of strategies in this area and many strategies are conducted in parallel, as well as through a coordinated and combined effort. The present research aims at determining the different strategies developed by the Australian federal, state and territory governments and industry. This is focused on a number of areas including maritime, aviation and surface transport security. Within these more specific fields, the project analyses existing strategies, challenges of cooperation to determine the most effective ways of collaboration. Research will further be conducted outside Australia, in particular comparing European approaches, to determine best practice and establish further possible ways of cooperation.

Project 2011 activities and outcomes:

A major achievement of 2011 was the ‘Risk and Resilience:Redefining Security’ CEPS conference in October, convened by Practitioner-in-Residence Kate O’Donnell. The conference brought together many important government and industry stakeholders in the area of infrastructure protection and security. This enabled contacts for the researchers and deeper insights into the current developments and challenges in the field. Two further achievements include edited collections that are in press:
1. Legrand, T. & McConnell, A. (2012). Emergency Policy, Vol 3, Global Influences on National Crisis Management. Ashgate.
2. Hufnagel, S. & Roach, K. (2012). Emergency Law, Vol 2. Ashgate. The two volumes assess the politics of emergencies and the legal issues relating to situations of emergencies. They combine the main articles that have been written in this area and are geared to become crucial background reading for anyone studying this field.

Impact:

Within the project, a study was carried out with specific focus on surface transport security. The study was initiated by Kate O’Donnell, and carried out by Thea Coventry (Research Assistant, ANU) and Dr Saskia Hufnagel. The first (completed) part of the study is a legislative comparison between all Australian jurisdictions in the field of surface
transport security legislation, which was presented at the 2011 CEPS Conference and the 2011 TSG Forum. Comparative research was further conducted in France and the UK and will be implemented into the study in 2012.
Furthermore, the project was represented through Dr Saskia Hufnagel in the Australian and International Standards Development on Societal Security at Standards Australia and the International Standards Organisation. This project was also presented at a research workshop at QPS and internationally at a conference on emergency management in London in May 2011.

Plans for 2012:

For 2012, a co-authored book (see below) is being planned in the field of Australian vulnerable infrastructure protection by Dr Tim Legrand and Dr Saskia Hufnagel. This book will give an overview of different types of emergency responses and their challenges in Australia. The book is being planned to be published with Federation Press.