"fraying in ways we have never experienced before," ASIO Director‑General Mike Burgess warned — a stark judgment that threads through this year’s Australian federal budget and the government’s reframing of national security.
A$53 billion boost since 2022: scale and scope of the new national security base
Since coming to office in 2022, the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has increased whole‑of‑government national security funding across the four years of the forward estimates by A$53 billion, a 20 percent rise that lifts the funding base from A$265 billion to A$318 billion. The figure is explicitly presented as a national security total — spanning Defence, Home Affairs, intelligence agencies, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), border protection and Foreign Affairs — not as a defence‑only line item. That composition matters because the government is treating national security as broader than traditional military capacity.
National Intelligence Community funding — A$14.3 billion and sharper human‑security warnings
Funding for Australia’s National Intelligence Community has risen by 31 percent to A$14.3 billion over the past five years, while resourcing for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) has increased by 37 percent. Those increases accompany repeated cautions from ASIO’s Director‑General that the threat environment includes a social dimension that intelligence and law enforcement cannot address alone. The source material says foreign state actors seek to exploit domestic tensions and that violent extremist movements continue to target vulnerable individuals online, creating division and encouraging violence.
Counter‑terrorism online operations: a new Counter‑Terrorism Online Centre led by ASIO and the AFP
The budget continues a prevention‑focused counter‑terrorism approach. Last year the government released a new Counter‑Terrorism and Violent Extremism Strategy backed by A$106.2 million over four years to strengthen early intervention. This year the government commits A$604.2 million to address violent extremism, terrorism and hate speech — measures that include stronger hate crime and firearms laws and enhanced capabilities to disrupt politically and ideologically motivated violence before it escalates.
A notable operational shift is the establishment of a Counter‑Terrorism Online Centre, to be jointly led by ASIO and the AFP. The Centre will place specialist investigators directly into online environments where radicalisation occurs, including gaming platforms, encrypted chat groups and algorithm‑driven social media feeds — an explicit recognition that effective counterterrorism must operate where the threat exists today.
Cyber resilience: A$89.3 million to sustain the Australian Cyber Security Strategy
The government is allocating A$89.3 million over four years to sustain and enhance initiatives under the Australian Cyber Security Strategy. The budget frames cyber resilience as essential to national resilience because hostile cyber activity can disrupt hospitals, energy grids, ports, telecommunications systems and financial institutions. The language in the budget treats civilian systems as integral to the national security landscape alongside traditional military assets.
A$841.7 million for social cohesion and targeted community support
Perhaps the budget’s most distinctive element is its direct investment in social cohesion as a security capability. The government commits A$841.7 million to community infrastructure through the Thriving Suburbs, Growing Regions and Stronger Communities programs — funding for libraries, parks, community centres, cultural facilities and public spaces intended to bolster trust and liveability.
Targeted supports for communities affected by hate and targeted violence accompany that infrastructure spending. The budget includes A$42.9 million in mental health supports for the Jewish community and the broader Bondi community, and A$46.7 million in financial support for community security and infrastructure upgrades. It also commits to implementing Commonwealth‑relevant recommendations from the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion Interim Report. Those measures reflect a view in which protecting communities from targeted harm is part of national resilience.
How ASIO, the AFP, Jewish and Bondi communities, and cyber teams are positioned
- ASIO, the AFP and the National Intelligence Community: will see expanded resourcing and a formal role inside online environments through the Counter‑Terrorism Online Centre; the record increase in intelligence resourcing underpins a shift toward prevention and online disruption.
- Jewish and Bondi communities: will receive A$42.9 million in mental health supports and A$46.7 million for security and infrastructure upgrades, alongside commitments to implement relevant Royal Commission recommendations.
- Cyber teams and critical infrastructure operators: face a policy environment that treats cyber resilience as core to national resilience, backed by A$89.3 million to sustain the Australian Cyber Security Strategy and by explicit attention to hostile cyber activity that can disrupt hospitals, energy grids, ports, telecommunications systems and financial institutions.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security will scrutinise these investments, the government says, to ensure capability is matched by accountability and that oversight frameworks keep pace with expanded responsibilities. The Albanese government’s approach treats national security and social cohesion as inseparable: it is reconstructing capability not only through agencies and cyber spend but through deliberate community investment. The immediate question the budget poses — and the committee is charged to test — is whether rebuilding capability and funding community resilience at this scale will measurably reduce the vulnerabilities those measures are designed to address.
