Safeguarding Australia Summit

Safeguarding Australia — the nation’s longest running and most influential national security summit since 2003
recent keynote highlights:

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2024 —20th National Security Annual Summit
SECURING AUSTRALIA’S SOVEREIGNTY —
Strength though Preparedness”

'Our Biggest Challenge: Securing Australia  in an era of Great Power Rivalry.'  
Dinner Keynote by Professor Hugh White AO, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies, School of International, Political & Strategic Studies, ANU

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SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2023 —19th National Security Annual Summit
GREAT POWER COMPETITION
Implications For Australia’s National Security

Summit Dinner Keynote Address by The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC - 29th Prime Minister of Australia on “Defending Democracy In An Emerging Multipolar World”

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2022 — 18th National Security Annual Summit

GEOPOLITICAL RIVALRY: DEMOCRACY’S EXISTENTIAL CHALLENGE
IMPLICATIONS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
The summit dinner is the signature event in the national security calendar and this year featured HE Vicki Treadell, CMG, MVO Summit Dinner Keynote — British High Commissioner to Australia. Her Excellency addressed the summit on the overarching summit theme with a focus on Democratic and Authoritarian responses and our alliances - AUKUS, the Quad, Five Eyes & NATO

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2021 — 17th National Security Annual Summit
Theme: COUNTERING MALIGN INTERFERENCE, INFLUENCE AND PANDEMIC DISRUPTION

Safeguarding Australia 2021 was much like every other event held around the globe with it being a fully virtual platform due to the pandemic and lockdowns around the nation after the 2020 summit having been cancelled. Below is a snippet of the key speakers and topics:

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2019 - 16th National Security Annual Summit
Theme: Confronting and Countering the Threats from Espionage, Foreign Interference and Terrorism

Across 8 and 9 May, Safeguarding Australia 2019 brought government and industry together to counter the threats facing all Australians from the recent and ongoing reporting of cyber-attacks on the federal parliament’s computer system, the similar intrusions into our political parties, the already well documented attempts to influence our universities and industries and the horror of the Christchurch terror attack with international and Australian experts exploring and considering the past, present and future of security response.

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2018 ~ 15th National Security Annual Summit

Theme: Structuring for the future – strategic thinking for a secure Australia

The diversity, the increase and damage from terrorist attacks, growth of cyber-enabled espionage and criminality and the increasing concerns about foreign interference create a contemporary threat environment which calls for the need to rapidly coordinate interagency efforts to meet risks to the public.

 SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2017 ~ 14th National Security Annual Summit

Theme: Turning points in security. 

"Competing priorities, growing threats and increasing complexity will continue to present fundamental challenges to Australia’s national security agenda in the coming years.

Public and private security professionals — policy makers, practitioners and providers — will be forced to address a wide range of issues which have developed over recent decades and continue to grow, such as violent extremism, cyber threats (from lone and state actors), border control and legislation.

In coming years, they will need to also contend with the security issues inherent in societal issues, adding known-unknown dimensions to an already complex national security agenda, most notably an ageing population, technology creeping into all facets of life, and diversity in the workplace reflecting an increasingly cosmopolitan society."

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2016 ~ 13th National Security Annual Summit

Theme: Protecting the Homefront.

"The national security threat posed by contemporary terrorism ranges from organised attacks against societies, to inspired attacks against individuals. At the core of the threat is the spread of extremist propaganda used to radicalise, recruit and inspire others.

The frontline of this conflict spans the globe and reaches the homes of ordinary citizens through traditional media and social networking platforms. Today’s counterterrorism initiatives include interdicting and disrupting terrorists operations, but they focus more than ever on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) and combating terrorist propaganda."

SAFEGUARDING AUSTRALIA 2015

Theme: Global Violent Extremism: Another Long War.

"The 2015 conference theme is Global Violent Extremism and addresses the re-emergence of violent and radical ideologies as a major international security threat. The theme bridges external threats, such as the Islamic State, and their links to domestic threats, such as sectarian tensions within communities, the return of foreign fighters and internationally-inspired terror plots."