Supporting international peacekeeping and counter-terrorism
Notwithstanding the need to prioritise regional security challenges, we can and must maintain the bandwidth to contribute where needed at the global level.
Strategic competition may be intensifying, and rightly re-orienting our planning focus. But that does not mean non-traditional threats have disappeared. Many parts of the world continue to be rattled by terrorism, fragility, and internal conflict. As climate change exacerbates their underlying drivers, we should only expect these dynamics to worsen.
In light of this, and given our extended interest in global stability, Australia must remain a ready and capable partner in international peacekeeping and counter-terrorism efforts. Notwithstanding the need to prioritise regional security challenges, we can and must maintain the bandwidth to contribute where needed at the global level.
As part of those efforts, we will:
Continue to support UN and other coalitional peacekeeping and counter-terrorism operations. The ADF will maintain the readiness and specialist capabilities needed to make niche, military contributions where needed, effective, and legally mandated.
Scale up our cyber-warfare contributions to counter-terrorism efforts. Australia will continue to leverage the Australian Signals Directorate's cyber warfare capacity against terrorist organisations and other non-state actors, disrupting and degrading their capacity to recruit, finance, and organise violence.
Enhance our capacity to assess global fragility. To inform preventative development policy, and extend our warning of potential conflict risks, Australia will establish a dedicated global fragility analysis centre in the Office of National Intelligence.
Target drivers of fragility in our wider foreign policy program. Australia will aim to synergise our international initiatives that address underlying and related fragility drivers, including climate vulnerability, economic precarity, impunity, and forced displacement. To do so, we will enhance coordination between DFAT, AFP, Defence, ONI and DPMC on their respective fragility-relevant policies. We will also aim, in turn, to better integrate our joint prevention efforts with the US' integrated Global Fragility Strategy.
Strengthen our domestic counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regime. To better prevent Australian-linked transfers from funding terrorism, we will implement the recommendations of the Senate inquiry into Australia's CTF regime, including the extension of reporting obligations to designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs). Relatedly, we will increase AUSTRAC's resourcing, ensuring the agency is equipped to process expanded reporting flows.
Help strengthen the international CTF architecture. Specifically, Australia will continue to advocate internationally for the adoption of best-practice CTF regimes. We will apply particular diplomatic pressure on countries listed as having deficient regimes by the multilateral Financial Action Task Force.