Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, recently elevated to the position in the latest Cabinet reshuffle, says she will make cyber security and safely reopening Australia’s borders her top priorities.
Andrews told the Sydney Morning Herald that she will also urge national security agencies in her portfolio to increase their female representation.
Karen Andrews.
Guarding against cyberattacks, shoring up supply chains and protecting critical infrastructure and technologies from foreign adversaries, Andrews said, will be priorities – especially after Australian agencies and organisations were recently hit by cyberattacks from state-based actors.
Andrews said the Government needs to do more to communicate the growing threat of cyberattacks and the importance of protecting critical technologies and infrastructure from foreign interference.
“The first thing is to raise awareness, and to do that across industry, because I think at the moment industry is not necessarily understanding what the impacts of a cyberattack could well be on them, and they’re not sure how to respond,” she told the SMH.
“That is probably a bigger issue for our small to medium enterprises, but our large enterprises are not immune from that.”
