Cyber capability fund for Australian police boosted to $51m

A fund to uplift Australian law enforcement's capability to combat cybercrime will continue past its initial three-year term, with $51 million now allocated to the program, iTnews has learned.

The cyber capability fund (CCF) was first funded in the 2020-21 Budget, with an allocation of $30.9 million over three years from 2021-22. The government announced the fund in March 2022.

The initial three-year spend is now projected to be $29.5 million, about $1.4 million less than announced.

But this will be more than made up for, with the program budgeted to run at least an extra two years, at around $11 million a year. It is also intended to be "an ongoing fund", a Home Affairs spokesperson told iTnews.

The phasing of the program is now $3.6 million in 2021-22 (actual), $20.3 million in 2022-23, $5.6 million in 2023-24, $10.8 million in 2024-25 and $11 million in 2025-26.

$10 million underspend in first year

The program underspent in the region of $10 million in its first year of operation.

Home Affairs' recent annual report [pdf] showed $13.6 million was budgeted but only $3.6 million spent on a cyber security line item that a Home Affairs spokesperson said “predominately relates to the cybercrime capability fund."

The $3.6 million that was spent went to "communication and outreach and engagement activities to improve cyber security practices among Australians”, the spokesperson told iTnews.

"Relevant funding" - the underspend - "has been re-phased into the 2022-23 financial year," the spokesperson said, with $20.3 million now allocated for this financial year.

This covers committed funding of $10.3m on 12 projects, “including specialist training activities, software procurement and technical capability development, operational collaboration on cybercrime, and enhanced victim support.”

The Northern Territory, Victoria, Queensland and NSW police forces are to receive the uplift funding “focusing on victim support, software, training, and skills enhancement”, the spokesperson said.

Home Affairs' spokesperson told iTnews these projects were selected in February after an open submission process that ended in January.

The police capability uplift projects were delayed while appropriate governance programs were put in place, the spokesperson said.

“The program expenditure has been delayed due to the need to establish robust governance arrangements for administering the fund, including memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with each of the jurisdictions.”

The missing $1.4 million

While initially funded as a three-year, $30.9 million program, it will now come in $1.4 million under that amount after three years.

The explanation for that $1.4 million appears to be a brief line item in Labor's October budget.

The 2022-2023 budget papers noted that "as a result of its spending audit, the government will improve quality of spending by redirecting funding from previous budget rounds.”

This, it said, includes “$5 million from the partial reversal of the 2020–21 budget measure titled Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy 2020, including redirecting uncommitted funding from the cyber capability fund.”

Two years and $21.8m added

The removal of "uncommitted funding" from the CCF appears to be more than made up for by the extension of the program beyond its initial three years, with funding allocations across forward estimates.

Originally worth $30.9 million, it is now slated to cost $51 million by 2025-2026.

Home Affairs' spokesperson said that specific allocations of funding have not been "fully" made for 2022-23 and beyond.