The Morrison Government is securing the online tools and technologies of the future, today opening a new Australian Federal Police-led centre dedicated to combatting crime online, and launching Australia’s National Plan to Combat Cybercrime, following its endorsement by Commonwealth, State and Territory Police Ministers last week.
Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews said the National Plan and the AFP’s new cybercrime centre would bring together the experience, powers, capabilities and intelligence needed to build a strong, multi-faceted response to the problem of cybercrime.
“During the pandemic, cybercrime became one of the fastest growing and most prolific forms of crime committed against Australians. The tools and the techniques used to rob or extort Australians became more effective and more freely available than ever before,” Minister Andrews said.
“This is why the Morrison Government is taking strong, decisive action to safeguard Australians, their data, and our shared digital future.
“Our National Plan will support industries to grow online, build wider confidence in the digital economy, ensure safer online spaces for children, and better support law enforcement to bring to justice those who would break our laws.
“I’m serious about enforcing the law and protecting Australia’s digital future, which is why the Plan is backed up by the resources, intelligence, and capabilities of a new AFP-led cybercrime centre.
“Using far-reaching Commonwealth legislation and high-end technical capabilities, the AFP’s new cybercrime centre will aggressively target cyber threats, shut them down, and bring offenders to justice.”
The new centre – the Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (or the ‘JPC3’) – is based in the AFP’s New South Wales Headquarters, and has been established with $89 million in funding provided through the Morrison Government’s $1.67 billion Cyber Security Strategy.
The National Plan to Combat Cyber Crime, a key deliverable under the Cyber Security Strategy, is available for download from the Department of Home Affairs’ website.
Both initiatives build on the Morrison Government’s comprehensive cybersecurity measures, including:
- securing landmark reforms to national security legislation to better protect our critical infrastructure;
- making all Australians safer through passage of important legislation to revolutionise the way Australian agencies investigate and prosecute cybercrime;
- ensuring our law enforcement agencies have much needed powers to combat crime on the dark web;
- cracking down and protecting Australians from ransomware through the Ransomware Action Plan;
- facilitating the exchange of digital information with US authorities by signing the CLOUD Act Agreement with the United States; and,
- launching a public information campaign to increase Australian’s cyber security.
