The Federal Government has announced Australia’s “largest ever” cybersecurity spend. 

This week’s budget papers lay out a $9.9 billion investment over the next decade in new national cyber and intelligence capabilities under the umbrella of ‘Project REDSPICE’ – Resilience, Effects, Defence, Space, Intelligence, Cyber, and Enablers.

The funding is aimed at increasing ASD’s offensive cyber capabilities and introducing new intelligence capabilities. The government says it will create over 1,900 new jobs in the cyber, data science and intelligence fields, almost doubling the ASD’s size. It also claims the spending will create additional cyber security, cloud computing and information technology jobs in the private sector.

While the government has been promoting the size of the package, the funding is spread over 10 years with only $4.2 billion to be spent in the first four-year budget cycle. The package includes savings from other parts of the defence portfolio, leaving the cyber pledge  worth just $588.7 million in new money in the first four years.

The government has budgeted an additional $1.2 billion to be spent between now and the late 2030s on a national space mission for Earth observation, “which will see Australia design, build, and operate four new satellites”.