The National Security Committee (NSC), also known as the National Security Committee of Cabinet,[1] is the peak decision-making body for national security and major foreign policy matters in the Australian Government. It is a committee of the Cabinet of Australia, though decisions of the NSC do not require the endorsement of the Cabinet itself.[2][3][4]
Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser consequently established the National and International Security Committee in 1977.[7] Prime Minister Bob Hawke also continued the format of the National and International Security Committee as a subcommittee of the Defence and External Relations Committee to consider and report on national security, defence and international relations.[8]
The current format of the National Security Committee was created by Prime Minister John Howard in 1996 with a broad national security mandate including foreign policy and international economic issues. Under Howard the NSC also played a central role in the lead up and during the International Force for East Timor deployment, the formulation of Defence White Papers, and the Australian involvement in the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War.[7]
The National Security Adviser was created without a statutory footing but was tasked with ranging responsibilities including counterterrorism, emergency management, and defence strategic policy.[9] The role of National Security Adviser was disbanded by Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2013.[10]
Role
The responsibilities of the National Security Committee include to deliberate and decide on Australia's national security issues, including international security issues of strategic relevance, Australian border security, national responses to domestic and international crises and terrorism, military operations and the deployment of the Australian Defence Force, and the operation and activities of the National Intelligence Community.[11]
On 5 March 2020, the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, announced that the NSC had agreed to new travel restrictions, updated travel advice and implemented new screening measures for COVID-19, aimed to "slow the importation of COVID-19 cases into Australia to enable preparatory measures to continue and to enable a public health response to the initial cases".
On 18 March 2020,[19] a human biosecurity emergency was declared in Australia owing to the risks to human health posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, after the NSC had met the previous day. The Biosecurity Act 2015 specifies that the Governor-General may declare such an emergency exists if the Health Minister (then Greg Hunt) is satisfied that "a listed human disease is posing a severe and immediate threat, or is causing harm, to human health on a nationally significant scale". This gives the Minister sweeping powers, including imposing restrictions or preventing the movement of people and goods between specified places, and evacuations.[20] The Biosecurity (Human Biosecurity Emergency) (Human Coronavirus with Pandemic Potential) Declaration 2020 was declared by the Governor-General, David Hurley, under Section 475 of the Act.[19]
Ministerial membership
The Prime Minister determines the membership of NSC. Under the current Albanese Government, the NSC is chaired by the Prime Minister with the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister as deputy chair. In July 2022, Albanese added Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change to the committee.[21]
Members of the Committee as of July 2022[update] are:[13]
As mentioned above, the NSC met numerous times during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic with attendance by the Minister for Health and the Chief Medical Officer.[24]
Secretaries Committee on National Security
The Secretaries Committee on National Security (SCNS) (formerly the Secretaries Committee on Intelligence and Security) serves as the peak officials-level committee considering national security matters and directly supports the NSC. It is an interdepartmental committee which considers all major matters to be put before the NSC and supports the whole-of-government coordination of national security policy.[2][25]