3 Victorian critical infrastructure sectors

The Strategy describes a vision of arrangements for Victorian critical infrastructure resilience, founded on a strong partnership between government and industry sectors, that limit disruption to the supply of essential services to the Victorian community.

The Strategy recognises eight critical infrastructure sectors and encourages resilience building activities within and between each of these sectors. Each of the eight critical infrastructure sectors has been assigned to a portfolio department whose role is to provide the primary interface between government and critical infrastructure owners or operators and lead planning for their sector. Machinery of government changes effective 1 January 2019 have assigned portfolio responsibility for the transport, communications and food supply sectors to new portfolio departments.

Table 1: Critical infrastructure sectors and respective portfolio department as at 1 January 2019

SECTOR PORTFOLIO DEPARTMENT

Energy Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

Transport Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions

Water Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning

Banking and finance Department of Treasury and Finance

Communications Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions

Food Supply Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions

Government Department of Premier and Cabinet

Health Department of Health and Human Services

The following sections describe the eight critical infrastructure sectors which deliver services to the Victorian community, and examples of recent emergency events which impacted on their operations where appropriate. These descriptions are included to provide readers with an overview of the services, assets, networks and systems within each critical infrastructure sector. IGEM avoids identifying particular infrastructure or the owners or operators given security implications and commercial sensitivities.

3.1 Energy

The energy sector supplies the essential services of fuel (including gas), light and power to the Victorian community.

It comprises three sub-sectors: • liquid fuel – owners or operators of liquid fuel production and import facilities, refineries, storage systems, distribution systems and retail outlets • gas – owners or operators of gas production, receiving, processing and storage facilities, transmission systems and distribution systems • electricity – owners or operators of electricity generation, transmission and distribution systems.

Most of Victoria’s energy infrastructure is privately owned or operated. The energy sector operates as part of broader national energy markets and international supply chains. The energy sector is transforming due to technological, climatic, economic, political and regulatory factors.

A range of Victorian and national risk management regulations apply to the energy sub-sectors. Interdependencies exist between the liquid fuel, gas and electricity sub-sectors, such that disruption in one sub-sector can lead to flow-on effects in others. Most of the critical infrastructure sectors identify energy as a critical dependency. Many Victorians may recall the impact and consequences of a large-scale gas supply disruption more than two decades ago. Events which impacted the energy sector in 2017 and 2018 include storms and periods of high temperature and humidity which led to electricity supply interruptions for customers in Victoria.

3.2 Transport

Transport is an essential service to the Victorian community comprised of four sub-sectors: • public transport – owners or operators of train, tram and bus systems, intermodal hubs, and ferries • freight and logistics – owners or operators of freight systems • road and rail – owners or operators of roads, tunnels and bridges, and rail infrastructure • port and marine – owners or operators of airports and marine ports.

Ownership of Victoria’s transport infrastructure varies with some assets being government-owned and some being privately owned.

Events in one sub-sector often have flow-on effects for other sectors and the broader community beyond known dependencies. Events which affected parts of the transport sector in 2017 and 2018 include the Flinders Street incident in December 2017 and the South West Fires in March 2018.

While the transport sector retains a focus on incidents and developments in cyber and physical security, the sector acknowledges chronic stressors which affect resilience including urbanisation, an ageing population, changing weather patterns and increased frequency of natural events leading to emergencies.

3.3 Water

The water sector supplies the essential services of water and sewerage to the Victorian community. It comprises owners or operators of water catchments, storage infrastructure, treatment facilities and transfer systems – who have the responsibility to collect, treat, transport and deliver water, and manage wastewater for urban or rural communities. Some provide bulk water supply and bulk sewerage services to other owners or operators.

Water sector infrastructure is largely State-owned and most operators are statutory authorities. The water sector is regulated at the state level with national overlays on aspects such as drinking water guidelines. An emergency in the water sector has the potential to impact across most sectors and the water sector has some level of dependency on most of the other sectors, particularly the energy sector.

The water sector continues to deal with familiar hazard sources such as fire, flood, dry seasons and drought, and is engaging with cyber security and climate change. Events that impacted on members of the water sector in 2017 and 2018 include the dumping of plastic pellets into a sewerage facility in 2017 and the South West Fires in March 2018.

3.4 Banking and finance

The banking and finance sector provides financial services to the Victorian community. It comprises two groupings: • retail and wholesale financial service providers (including banks), insurance and wealth management service providers and settlement agencies • national regulatory agencies. Assets which enable service provision include information and communication technology systems and corporate headquarters.

Operations of the banking and finance sector are structured around common, interdependent systems physically located in Australia and overseas which facilitate financial transactions.

The banking and finance sector operates within globally competitive financial service markets and is subject to national regulation.

The banking and finance sector is focused on developments in cyber security and acknowledges its dependency on a range of essential services and telecommunications.

3.5 Communications

The communications sector supplies voice and data telecommunication services over fixed and mobile networks.

The communications sector comprises organisations which variously: • provide customers access to their networks • purchase access to other organisation’s networks which they then on-sell to customers • broadcast media content through the networks • maintain platforms on the networks for customers to engage in social and commercial activity.

Copper and fibre-optic networks, mobile telephone and wireless internet towers, satellites, exchanges and data centres enable transmission, backhaul and customer access to telecommunication. The communications sector is impacted by the roll out of new network transmission technologies. The majority of Victoria’s telecommunications infrastructure is privately owned or operated. Most of the service providers operate across Australia and many of these operate internationally. The sector is regulated at the national level with competition policy as a major consideration. Most other critical infrastructure sectors identify telecommunications as a critical dependency.

The South West Fires in March 2018 impacted some operators and highlighted the dependency of the communications sector on the energy sector.

3.6 Food supply

The food supply sector provides fresh, refrigerated and packaged food and groceries to the Victorian community. Assets enabling food and grocery supply continuity are held by private businesses and include large warehousing and distribution centres that in turn require complex logistics network services which are provided through outsourcing. The sector is made up of a national network of operators, which is primarily regulated at a national level with a strong focus on competition.

Localised floods and fires had a limited impact on the sector in 2017 and 2018.

The food supply sector identifies food producers and the energy, water, and transport sectors as critical dependencies.

3.7 Government

Victorian Government departments, agencies and Victoria Police deliver or regulate the delivery of a broad range of services to the Victorian community. Some of these services include education, public safety, emergency services, transport, communications, social security and welfare, health and land management. The government sector also provides advice to ministers and supports high-level decision making. Departments and agencies operate subject to statelevel legislation and regulation with national overlays, for example, in the delivery of education. Human resources, information and communication technology systems and office properties enable government to provide its services. Each department or agency is responsible for its own security, preparedness to respond to an emergency, and for its own business continuity management. Image: Victoria State Emergency Service 3.8 Health

The health sector provides services such as health treatment, care, education and disease prevention to the Victorian community.

Health services are delivered by a network of public and private providers including:

medical practitioners, nurses, pre-hospital and ambulance services

mental, allied, dental and preventative health services

pharmacies.

These providers operate from a range of settings such as hospitals, medical clinics, community centres and private practices.

The health sector is regulated at the state and national level and is subject to international standards and guidelines.

Key challenges faced by the health sector include sustaining timely access to services, ensuring that its infrastructure keeps up with the growing population, and supporting regional communities and growth corridors to have the same access to services as those in metropolitan Melbourne.

This sector is reliant on a complex system of interconnected infrastructures meaning that a failure of energy, water, transport or telecommunications infrastructure could have a flow-on effect to the delivery of health services.

Most other critical infrastructure sectors identify a healthy workforce as a critical dependency.

In 2017 and 2018, a number of incidents impacted Victorian communities and also challenged health services at local and regional level. Emergencies that are known to impact the sector or health system as a whole include mass casualty events, significant electricity outages or protracted disruptions to key dependencies such as information communications technology.