Emissions, The Strategic Omission; Climate Security and Australia's National Intelligence Community

Abstract

The Australian Government has identified climate change as being a threat to national security, raising the question as to how the extraordinary powers of Australia's security agencies could be utilised. Currently, discourse remains restricted to the tactical capacity of the Department of Defence or intelligence agencies’ assessment functions. Conversely, this thesis outlines strategic opportunities for Australia's National Intelligence Community to substantially enhance the Commonwealth's climate security response. Firstly, the Office of National Intelligence (ONI) is found to be well-placed to develop conceptual clarity surrounding 'climate security'. Hence, the establishment of an ONI-led task force is suggested. Secondly, it is found that the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are well-placed to support the monitoring of breaches to specific components of Australia’s federal climate change legislation. Additionally, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is found to be able to support both the AFP and ONI in the above endeavours. Hence, it is recommended that the collection and provision of GHG emissions data be prioritised within AGO, and, regarding the AFP and ACIC, that Subsection 22XF(1) of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 be amended to include a criminal penalty to form a hybrid criminal/civil regime. Show more