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the Labor Government and Minister for Broadband,
Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE),
released an update to its previous National Digital
Economy Strategy (NDES) – titled “Advancing
Australia as a Digital Economy”.
In the updated NDES, the Labor Government
noted that, “Improving safety and security online
is a responsibility shared between government,
business and the community and for its part, the
Government will:
• Release the Digital Citizenship Best Practice
Principles in the second half of 2013;
• Develop and promote cybersecurity guidance
material designed for small to medium-sized
enterprises;
• Release a national plan to combat cybercrime
in mid-2013; and,
• Work with the international community to
develop international rules and norms as
represented by the United Nations Charter
and other international laws.”
The Labor Government also acknowledged
that, in partnership with the private sector and
NFP organisations, it was increasing efforts to
equip people and businesses with the tools and
knowledge they need to be safe and secure online
while also bolstering Australia’s digital resilience by
countering cybercrime and taking steps to make
Australia a hard target for those who seek to use
the Internet for malicious purposes.
A national plan to combat cybercrime (the
Plan) was subsequently released by the then
Attorney-General, The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC,
MP. The Plan represented a national commitment
to ensuring a safer and more secure digital
environment for all Australians, identifying
key principles intended to underpin the then
government’s approach and key priorities to
strengthen its national response.
It was encouraging to see that the Plan noted
that combating cybercrime requires more
than just an enforcement response and that
prevention, mitigation and education are also
important aspects. An important and critical
aspect of the Plan was the acknowledgement
that combating cybercrime needs to be a shared
Govlink Issue 2 2013
responsibility – between individuals, industry
and governments. I think we have all heard the
phrases that,” no one can combat this threat
alone” and there is no “silver bullet”.
These are all important principles and it is without
doubt that constructive collaboration between
all key stakeholders in order to share information
and combine efforts to combat cybercrime will be
critical to our success in identifying, mitigating,
preventing and reacting accordingly to cybercrime
and cyber threats in Australia.
You could also argue that if cybercrime is in
fact a global issue then it requires a global
framework with the full and active participation
of governments, the private sector and civil
societies around the world. The Plan entrenches
these notions in a framework that intends to
unify efforts across jurisdictions and form a key
part of a broader digital agenda.
Earlier this year, Australia acceded to the
Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
The convention came into force for Australia
on 1 March 2013 and is the leading, binding
international instrument directed at cybercrime.
The objectives of the convention are to
harmonise domestic legal frameworks on
cybercrime, provide for domestic powers to
investigate and prosecute cybercrime, and
establish an effective regime of international
legal cooperation.
Accession to the convention is also intended to
help improve the ability of Australian agencies to
work effectively with their overseas counterparts
in responding to cybercrime. It would behove
the Coalition government to enact the original
intention and powers of the convention in order
to improve Australia’s ability to combat crossborder cybersecurity issues.
It is understood that the new Coalition government
does not intend to vastly change the underlying
principles, intention or frameworks put in place by
the previous Labor government in relation to the
Plan, although we may see some minor tweaks.
The Coalition government has acknowledged the
importance of and its commitment to continuing
to work closely with industry and the broader
community to address the issues associated with
cybercrime and cyber threats.