Federal government appoints national cybersecurity coordinator

The Australian federal government has appointed air marshal Darren Goldie AM CSC as the first national cybersecurity coordinator.

Goldie will lead national cybersecurity policy, the coordination of responses to major cyber incidents, whole of Government cyber incident preparedness efforts and strengthening of Commonwealth cyber security capability.

He will lead this work in collaboration with the Government’s key policy, operational and security agencies.

The appointment of Goldie builds on the Albanese Government’s commitment to deliver a 2023-2030 Australian cybersecurity strategy and follows a cybersecurity industry roundtable hosted by the Prime Minister earlier this year.

Goldie will commence his term as the National Cyber Security Coordinator on 3 July 2023.

During a press conference, prime minister Anthony Albanese said, “We see this as a vital component of what modern government needs to do to respond to what are new and emerging challenges which are there, but also the incredible opportunities that come from advances in new technology.”

Clare O’Neil, minister for cybersecurity said cyber was a serious problem they arrived in office.

“There was no cyber incident response coordination occurring in the Australian Government. That is an extraordinary thing and we should not have been there,” she said.

“Air Marshal Goldie's work will be very important in making sure that when we do experience significant national cyber incidents, there is one person across government who is going to coordinate the national effort to manage those incidents.

“Air Marshal Goldie will help us prepare for future cyber incidents.”

According to the national cybersecurity coordinator, together with the national office of cybersecurity, they will drive forward the necessary work to ensure Australia is best positioned to respond to the opportunities and threats of the digital age.

Professor Monica Whitty, head of department of software systems and cybersecurity, faculty of information technology said this is a welcome appointment that signals that the government is taking cybersecurity as a serious risk to the nation.

“While the role will address how to respond to incidents, they would ideally also coordinate how to prevent attacks. Also, it would be important for them to prepare for future attacks, given that the technology evolves – often at a breakneck pace,” she said.  

“In addition, the government needs to consider small businesses that cannot afford to protect themselves adequately. Moreover, given that organisations are linked as we can see from the recent HWL Ebsworth attack, considering supply chains is critical.”

Air Marshal Goldie has served Australia for more than 30 years through various roles with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), most recently as air commander Australia.

As the air commander Australia, Goldie has been responsible for building capability and resilience for the RAAF. He has led the coordination of defence responses to natural disasters and the pandemic.