The strategic geographic position of Northern Australia, which faces the Indo-Pacific region, makes it key to national defence, security and disaster response.115
There are multiple dimensions to the contemporary concept of security. They include:
• defending the nation
• resilience and response to natural and human-induced disasters
• biosecurity and border integrity
• security of food, fuel and infrastructure
• efficient and resilient supply chains
• strategic cooperation with neighbours in defence, resilience and economic development.116
Northern Australia is well-placed to deliver on all these fronts. It is already a focus of investment in defence infrastructure and multi-user infrastructure used by national security operations and defence forces from other nations.
Several Northern Australian cities are also hubs for disaster response for both their region and nearby Indo-Pacific countries.