Councils push for federal shared security centre funding

Australian councils are pushing for federally-funded shared security operations centres (SOCs) to be stood up, saying they lack the money, skills and capacity to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

Ahead of the Australian Local Government Association's (ALGA) national general assembly held in Canberra in late June, councils have submitted identical motions calling for federal funding for shared SOCs.

These would include managed security information and event management (SIEM) capabilities, which would be delivered through scalable regional models.

Leeton Shire Council in NSW put forward a technically detailed proposal for the ALGA assembly that includes round-the-clock monitoring, rapid incident response, threat intelligence sharing and reporting, and secure, Australia-based log file retention.

It also called for a tiered service model that is aligned to each council's risk profile, and capacity.

Queensland's Noosa Shire Council put forward a motion calling for stronger cyber protections, while Bega Valley Shire Council in NSW went for a broader approach, urging the Commonwealth to incorporate local government in the implementation of the data and digital government strategy.

This would give councils access to equivalent frameworks, resources and support as federal agencies, Bega Valley said.

"Local governments manage large volumes of sensitive data and critical infrastructure, making them attractive targets for cyber-attacks, yet many councils lack the funding, skills and capacity to implement robust cyber security measures," Bega Valley mayor Russell Fitzpatrick said.

In its 2023-24 pre-budget submission, ALGA called [pdf] for $10 million from the Commonwealth, to scope local government cyber security preparedness.

The funding would also be used to establish a local government chief information security office (CISO), at the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC).

No submissions received: Home Affairs 

A spokesperson for the Home Affairs department referred iTNews to its discussion paper for the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy and said no submissions that specifically raised SOCs for local government had been received to date.

"Australia's cyber security is a shared responsibility for everyone," a Home Affairs spokesperson said.

"State and territory governments provide oversight for local government cyber security through state and territory policies and legislative requirements to drive uplift and adoption of baseline maturity."

The department said it is currently developing Horizon 2 of the strategy, covering 2026 to 2028, and that further coordination across all levels of Australian government is being considered as part of that process.

ALGA, which represents 537 Australian local councils, was asked by iTnews to comment on the shared SOC push but declined to do so.