A comprehensive national security strategy: keeping Australians safe
On 11 February 2019, Prime Minister Morrison shared his plan to keep Australians safe, building on the Coalition’s track record of decisive actions and major investments. Over the next three years, the Morrison Government acted on its commitments, with a comprehensive national security strategy to protect and advance Australia’s interests for decades to come.
Defence and regional security
Recognising the evolving geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific region — particularly the growing coercive influence of and military build up in China — the Morrison Government sought to bolster Australia’s military strength and alliances.
On 1 July 2020, Prime Minister Morrison unveiled the Defence Strategic Update which featured a $270 billion investment over ten years to upgrade the capabilities of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The policy shift prioritised the Indo-Pacific region and aimed to enhance Australia's military readiness in response to evolving global threats.
The Morrison Government aimed to rebuild the ADF to its strongest position in generations. Defence spending increased to 2% of GDP by 2020-21, reversing decades of decline and reaching the highest level since 1938. A landmark $200 billion defence capability program delivered the largest naval transformation in Australia's history, with 54 vessels being built in Australia by Australian workers and with Australian steel – including 12 new submarines, 9 frigates, and 21 Pacific Patrol Boats. The Royal Australian Air Force received advanced F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, while the Australian Army gained new armoured vehicles, body armour and night fighting equipment.
The investment included plans also prioritising longer-range strike weapons and offensive cyber capabilities, intended to improve Australia’s deterrence posture against potential adversaries. This included acquisition of Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) and the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER).
The Morrison Government’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise initiative worked to initiate sovereign domestic missile manufacturing capability in partnership with industry leaders to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers and enhance self-sufficiency.
The Morrison Government also established the National Space Command, formally recognising space as a warfighting domain for the first time. This acknowledged the increasing role of space in military operations, committing $7 billion to develop sovereign space capabilities, including:
Satellite communications,
Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) initiatives to enhance space-based imagery capabilities,
Space domain awareness (SDA), including hosting US assets like the C-band radar and Space Surveillance Telescope in WA,
Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services, and
Space control and electronic warfare capabilities.
AUKUS
In September 2021, Prime Minister Morrison secured agreement to establish AUKUS — a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — focused on enhancing defence and technology cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
AUKUS represented Australia’s most significant defence and security agreement in over seventy years. The partnership consists of two pillars: nuclear-powered submarine capability (Pillar I) and advanced defence technologies (Pillar II).
Pillar I – Nuclear-Powered Submarines:
AUKUS will enable Australia to acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines to significantly upgrade its maritime deterrence. The phased plan includes:
A rotational force of US and UK submarines at HMAS Stirling (WA) from 2027.
Australia purchasing three to five US-built Virginia-class submarines from the early 2030s.
Co-development of a new submarine class — SSN-AUKUS — based on a UK design with US systems, to be built in the UK (late 2030s) and Australia (early 2040s).
Pillar II – Advanced Capabilities:
AUKUS also aims to strengthen collaboration in emerging technologies, including:
Cybersecurity,
Artificial intelligence and autonomous systems,
Quantum technologies,
Undersea warfare,
Hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities,
Electronic warfare, and
Defence innovation and information-sharing.
AUKUS was a direct response to the deteriorating strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific, particularly the growing assertiveness of China. It reaffirmed a shared trilateral commitment to a free and open region, strengthened collective deterrence, and deepened interoperability among partner defence forces.
Designed by Prime Minister Morrison, AUKUS is set to transform how the three nations develop, procure, and deploy military capabilities. By driving greater collaboration, innovation, investment, production, and integration, AUKUS enhances their combined deterrent effect.
AUKUS was not solely about integrating military forces, defence policy, and regulatory settings. It also focused on aligning defence industrial bases and capital markets to support collective security, boost military capability, and drive innovation. Prime Minister Morrison intended it to leverage the strategic advantages of dynamic, market-based economies with innovative private sectors. AUKUS was further structured as an inclusive framework, enabling tailored collaboration with other allies and partners, such as Japan and Korea, on a project-by-project basis.
AUKUS is deliberately ambitious, conceived in recognition of the existential and urgent threats posed by China and other authoritarian regimes including Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Its scale matches the seriousness of those threats, not limited by what might be achievable under conventional policy settings. Read more here.
Supporting and honouring our veterans
Between 2018 and 2022, the Morrison Government significantly expanded its support for Australian veterans and their families through a range of policy initiatives and increased funding. During this period, the Government committed an estimated $1.47 billion in additional funding to the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA), supplementing a stable annual base allocation of approximately $11.5 billion. This funding was directed toward strengthening services across mental health, suicide prevention, transition support, housing, and community programs, addressing service delivery challenges for a veteran population exceeding 340,000.
A key focus of the Morrison Government was mental health and suicide prevention. Central to this effort was the establishment of the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention in 2020 — a permanent, independent role created to investigate and report on systemic issues affecting veteran wellbeing. In July 2021, in response to growing calls from the community and ex-service organisations, the Government initiated the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, providing a formal mechanism to examine root causes and recommend durable reforms. Additional funding of $4.8 million was also allocated to expand the Coordinated Client Support Program, ensuring that at-risk veterans transitioning from military service received tailored case management and ongoing support.
In parallel, the Government sought to improve the transition from military to civilian life. A $63 million transition package supported services to enhance employment outcomes and social reintegration, including funding for veteran service organisations such as Soldier On and Team Rubicon. The establishment and expansion of Veteran Wellbeing Centres represented a further step, with a $10.7 million investment supporting new centres in Tasmania and South East Queensland. These hubs provide integrated services spanning health, employment, education, and community engagement.
Housing insecurity was another key area of focus. The Morrison Government launched the Veterans' Acute Housing Program with a $30 million commitment to provide crisis and transitional housing for veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This initiative addressed the specific housing challenges faced by some former ADF personnel.
Community-based programs also received strengthened support through targeted grants aimed at improving local service delivery and veteran wellbeing. The Veteran Wellbeing Grants Program funded local initiatives promoting health, resilience, and social connection, with grants ranging from $50,000 to $200,000. Concurrently, the Building Excellence in Support and Training Grants Program delivered over $4.8 million annually to support ex-service organisations in providing advocacy and claims assistance to veterans navigating the DVA system.
Under the Morrison Government, substantial investments were also made to enhance Australia’s commemorative infrastructure, both domestically and internationally, to honour the service and sacrifice of Australian military personnel.
Border protection
The Morrison Government upheld its commitment to border protection by continuing support for Operation Sovereign Borders. The policy, originally developed and implemented by Mr Morrison in 2013 while serving as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection under the Abbott Government, had proven effective in securing Australia’s maritime borders. This policy successfully secured Australia's maritime borders through a three-pillar approach: regional processing, disrupting people smuggling networks and abolishing Temporary Protection Visas. This policy stopped deaths at sea, closed 19 detention centres, and removed all children from detention. The humanitarian program was able to be expanded as a result, particularly helping vulnerable women and children, with over 7,000 places provided through the Women at Risk program. Under the Morrison Government, every child was removed from Nauru.
Combatting extremism online
The Morrison Government took swift action following the March 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks, where 51 people were murdered at two mosques in an attack that was live-streamed on social media. The response positioned Australia as a global leader in combating terrorist and extremist content online.
Prime Minister Morrison spearheaded international cooperation to combat online extremism, working closely with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Within weeks of the attack, the Australian Government secured unprecedented G20 consensus on tackling terrorist content online and helped develop the Christchurch Call to Action. Australia's quick legislative response became recognised as the global benchmark, with multiple nations citing the approach as exemplary in addressing online extremist content.
The Morrison Government then established the Australian Taskforce to Combat Terrorist and Extreme Violent Material Online, bringing together major technology companies including Facebook (now Meta), YouTube, Amazon, Microsoft and Twitter, alongside telecommunications providers Telstra, Vodafone, TPG and Optus. These companies implemented new systems to automatically detect and remove terrorist content before it could spread. Enhanced monitoring capabilities for live streaming services were developed and introduced accelerated review processes for flagged content. The Morrison Government established mandatory twice-yearly public reporting requirements for platforms to detail their efforts in combatting extremist material.
Counter-terrorism and domestic security
On 2 December 2019, Prime Minister Morrison announced an $87.8 million investment to establish a Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce within the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. This initiative aimed to enhance operational and investigative capabilities against foreign interference and espionage. The funding better equipped government agencies to discover, track and disrupt foreign interference in Australia.
Since September 2014, Australian law enforcement agencies have disrupted 21 major terrorist attack plots, showcasing the effectiveness of national counter-terrorism efforts. To further support this the Morrison Government allocated $2.2 billion in additional funding for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This included resources for intelligence experts and tactical response teams aimed at enhancing Australia's counter-terrorism capabilities.
The Morrison Government strengthened Australia's security apparatus through 12 new tranches of national security legislation and took strong action by stripping 12 terrorists of their Australian citizenship.
The investment included plans for longer-range strike weapons and offensive cyber capabilities, intended to improve Australia’s deterrence posture against potential adversaries. The Morrison Government aimed to rebuild Australia's defence forces to their strongest position in generations. Defence spending increased to 2% of GDP by 2020-21, reversing decades of decline and reaching the highest level since 1938. A landmark $200 billion defence capability program delivered the largest naval transformation in Australia's history, with 54 vessels being built in Australia using Australian workers and steel, including 12 new submarines, 9 frigates, and 21 Pacific Patrol Boats. The Royal Australian Air Force received advanced F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, while the Australian Army gained new armoured vehicles, body armour and night fighting equipment.
Cyber security
On 6 August 2020, Prime Minister Morrison delivered Australia’s 2020 Cyber Security Strategy. It represented the largest financial commitment to cyber security by an Australian government, amounting to $1.67 billion over ten years. It aimed to bolster protections for critical infrastructure and enhance law enforcement capabilities against cybercrime. The Strategy included plans to introduce legislation that would strengthen the powers of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to combat serious criminal activity on the dark web.
The Morrison Government's REDSPICE initiative (Resilience, Effects, Defence, Space, Intelligence, Cyber, Enablers), announced in March 2022, committed $9.9 billion allocation over a decade, to enhance Australia's cyber and intelligence capabilities in response to escalating regional threats and the evolving nature of warfare. This included investing in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud technologies to enhance cyber operations and intelligence analysis. This would enable the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to quadruple its international presence and recruit 1,900 new personnel, with 40% based outside Canberra — to diversify and expand ASD's talent pool.
Community safety and policing
Community safety was a top priority in the Morrison Government’s national security strategy. Bolstering efforts against crime included cancelling visas of over 800 dangerous criminals and implementing new powers to combat encrypted criminal communications.
To complement this, the Morrison Government consistently supported police forces across Australia through funding initiatives aimed at enhancing operational capabilities. This included significant investments in airport security and community safety programs following high-profile incidents of violence.
The Morrison Government was committed to protecting Australia’s way of life for future generations. Prime Minister Morrison presided over a period of significant investment in the country's defence capabilities and introducing a wide range of national security policies to protect Australia’s interests.
Related media:
1. Speech, Our Plan for Keeping Australians Safe and Secure, 11 February 2019: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42117
2. Press release, Stronger action against terror content, 30 June 2019: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42312
3. Press release, Stepping up Australia’s response against foreign interference, 02 December 2019: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42541
4. Press release, Defending Australia and its interests, 01 July 2020: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-42877
5. Press release, Historic Australian Federal Police operation keeping Australians safe, 08 June 2021: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-44066
