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13 July 2004

1. Editorial
2. Brief news from Engineers Australia
3. Brief news from around the country
4. AusLink has a security dimension
5. COAG Counter-Terrorism agreements
6. Woomera Blast Trial Report
7. Events

1 Editorial
It is great to see that professional and industry associations picking up issues of domestic security and including them as key themes in their conferences. For example see the conference of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association. This is a sign that non-government organisations are taking up the challenge and spreading knowledge among their membership.

2 Brief news from Engineers Australia

1. Athol Yates, Associate Director, Engineers Australia, has spent a number of weeks researching the state of critical infrastructure preparation in Queensland. His findings will be presented at the Infrastructure: invest in our nation's future, in Brisbane on 21 July. << Information
2. Recent media coverage: Engineers Australia was mentioned in the following articles:
• Security blanket, Sydney Morning Herald, 3-4 July 2004.

3 Brief news from around the country

1. The 2004 Fulbright Symposium was held on 5-7 July. It was titled Civil-Military Cooperation and the War on Terror. Papers are available here.
2. The Australian newspaper has reported that the Australian Research Council (ARC) has funded a project to develop a dictionary of terrorism. It will describe the different terms and concepts used in Asia and Australia to describe security issues. The four-year project will involve some of Australia's top experts in Asian language and security issues, including ANU linguist Anthony Diller, ANU professors Tony Milner and Des Ball and Lowy Institute specialists Alan Dupont and Allan Gyngell. July 12, 2004

4 AusLink has a security dimension
Last month, the Australian Government released its new land transport plan, AusLink. It sets out $11.8 billion in land transport spending, including a massive upgrade of Australia's east coast road and rail systems.

One dimension of the plan is security. This inclusion is notable considering that there was no substantive mention of security in the AusLink Green Paper which was released in November 2002.

The absence of security issues in the Green Paper was a concern for Engineers Australia as illustrated by the following question asked of the Prime Minister at the July 2003 Safeguarding Australia Conference.

Athol Yates: Prime Minister, you referred to a whole of government approach and this year you've seen some very significant infrastructure policy & position papers . come out. Two of them come to mind - energy report [the Energy Market Reform] and also Auslink land transport reform. Now, it's quite interesting that both of those had virtually no security dimensions to them. Auslink lacked any dimension security whatsoever, [while the] power report had about half a page devoted to security issues. How do you think that we can instil a more security, whole-of-government approach to major infrastructure policy decisions?

Prime Minister: That's a fair point. You're quite right, neither of those documents sort of had a security component .[However] the absence of a security segment necessarily represented a failure of the whole-of-government approach. I think the point you make about infrastructure is very valid and I think we probably do need to make further advances on that front . Transcript>>

Important statements within the plan are:

AusLink provides the opportunity to enhance security on the National Network to protect key national infrastructure links. This will help ensure that national transport connectivity is maintained, critical supply chains are protected and passenger mobility supported. [page 34]

In response to the findings of the international mission, AusLink will provide an avenue to incorporate transport infrastructure security needs into the development of the National Network. It provides a chance to facilitate both public and private sector investment in the development of preventive security capability throughout the transport network. This capability could include:

• state-of-the-art systems to track and monitor the movement of trucks or trains
• the provision of facilities to screen freight and vehicles at critical points throughout the network
• the ability to monitor movement of dangerous goods and people.

It also provides an opportunity to build on intelligent transport system solutions to deliver integrated economic, social and security outcomes in the transport sector. This is discussed later in this chapter. Under AusLink, infrastructure development will consider potential threats and incorporate appropriate preventive security measures. Infrastructure proposals will need to incorporate risk assessment and possible responses to perceived risks. These assessments and possible responses will need to be consistent treatments, compatible with the national counter-terrorism arrangements, and help enhance a strong transport security culture. Infrastructure investment will increase the capacity of transport linkages within Australia. This will help insulate Australia's transport system against shocks caused by the temporary or permanent loss of an individual piece of critical infrastructure. [pages 110-112]

The AusLink report is available here.

5 COAG Counter-Terrorism agreements
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) met on 25 June 2004 and reached the following agreements:

Review of Hazardous Materials - Ammonium Nitrate
COAG agreed on a national approach to ban access to ammonium nitrate for other than specifically authorised users. The agreement will result in the establishment in each jurisdiction of a licensing regime for the use, manufacture, storage, transport, supply, import and export of ammonium nitrate. The licensing regime will ensure that ammonium nitrate is only accessible to persons who have a demonstrated legitimate need for the product, are not of security concern and will store and handle the product safely and securely. This arrangement will balance security considerations with the legitimate needs of industry and farmers. A national set of principles for regulating ammonium nitrate can be found at Attachment D of the agreement.

COAG agreed that the States and Territories would use their best endeavours to ensure the legislative arrangements for the licensing regime would be in place by 1 November 2004, with administrative arrangements to be finalised as soon as possible thereafter. COAG also noted that the Australian Government would continue to undertake investigations on the viability of completely banning ammonium nitrate fertilizers of security concern as a matter of priority, taking into account whether effective, non-detonable, alternatives can be developed, and provide information on any alternatives to the States and Territories.

Critical Infrastructure Protection
COAG endorsed the 23 recommendations of the National Counter-Terrorism Committee on protecting national critical infrastructure. The recommendations include undertaking specific threat assessments for infrastructure identified as vital to the nation and encouraging businesses to have up-to-date security and business continuity plans in place. COAG also agreed that industry should be consulted as soon as possible on draft National Guidelines for Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Terrorism before their final endorsement by Heads of Government.

Intergovernmental Agreement on Counter-Terrorism Laws
Leaders signed the Intergovernmental Agreement on Counter-Terrorism Laws, which is the final step in implementing the April 2002 Leaders' Summit agreement on constitutional references to support terrorism offences of national application. The Intergovernmental Agreement provides for consultation between the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments on amendments to federal terrorism offences and on the proscription of terrorist organisations. A copy of the Agreement can be found below.

Proposed Intergovernmental Agreement on Land Transport Security
Substantial measures are now in place in relation to aviation and maritime security. Following the Madrid terrorist attacks in March 2004, all Australian governments have agreed to strengthen security policy and planning for land transport through an Intergovernmental Agreement. The Intergovernmental Agreement is to be finalised by 30 November 2004.

6 Woomera Blast Trial Report
This report was written by Ken Dale, Risk Research Group, Geoscience Australia
On May 6 this year, 5 tonnes of Hexolite high explosive was detonated in the Woomera Prohibited Area, South Australia. The blast was part of an international trial sponsored by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (UKMoD) and managed by the Australian Department of Defence. The trial involved participants from the UK, USA, Canada, Singapore, Germany, and the Netherlands as well as Australian based researchers from the CSIRO and the University of Melbourne. There were also a number of commercial participants taking the opportunity to assess the behaviour of their products when exposed to blast loading. An Engineers Australia tour group was organised by Athol Yates and was granted access to the site both prior to, and following the blast. This report provides some details, general observations, and photographs of some of the structures subjected to the blast during the trial. More>>

Alex Remennikov, University of Wollongong, performed a simulation of a detonation and explosion of a 5-tonne hexolite hemispherical explosive charge and the sequence of fireball formation . His estimate of the radius of fully formed fireball is around 17m after about 15-20 msec before it starts breaking up. View the sequence. Details from alexrem@uow.edu.au.

Alex has also supplied a simulation of blast wave interaction with the targets during the Woomera trial. View simulation.