Community and business involvement is crucial to successful anti-terrorism measures

The latest report in the Australian Homeland Security Research Centre’s National Security Practice Notes series focuses on the importance of community and business involvement in effective national security.

The report states that the Australian government’s aim of “enhancing community understanding of, and engagement in, the national counter-terrorism arrangements” is probably the most important aspect of Australia’s anti-terrorism preparation measures.

Key aspects of developing community involvement include:

• Engagement should not solely be directed at the Muslim community but include elements of the entire Australian community including individuals, religious groups, businesses, interest groups, industry and professional associations and academia.

• Engagement with the broad business sector is improving with activities such as the Business - Government Advisory Group on National Security.

• The new engagement model should be built on a foundation of consultation, and be supported by two way communication, trust, working from the same information base and adequate resources.

• The main challenges preventing community engagement will be sustaining the increased security posture of the community and crafting appropriate and targeted engagement strategies.

• There are numerous practical tools for community engagement and most of the government’s experience with engagement is held by the ‘soft’ social policy areas of education, health and community services rather than the ‘hard’ areas of defence, intelligence and security.

•Date: 10th August 2005 • Region: Australia • Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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