Dr Mark Gregory, an associate professor in network engineering at RMIT University, sent the letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, and Shadow Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
He said the security and resiliency of telecommunications would only be enhanced by a telecommunications security assurance centre that was able to offer technical advice to the Critical Infrastructure Centre in the Department of Home Affairs.
Dr Gregory's suggestion comes at a time when the Australia Government is pondering whether to allow Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei a role in 5G rollouts in the country. Doubts have been cast over the company because of its origins and Chinese law.
|
"For the past seven years, I have been working with Enex Testlabs, which is based in Melbourne, to develop the capability for the telecommunication security assurance centre and to advocate support for this Centre to industry," the letter said.
"With the rapid increase in global threats, it is time to put in place a dedicated centre that can mitigate telecommunications security risks by carrying out security assurance testing of the telecommunications infrastructure and systems."
Dr Gregory said having such a centre that was able to to technically investigate and report upon telecommunications infrastructure and systems security was in the national interest.
"I request that consideration be given to implementing a pilot centre at RMIT University in conjunction with Enex Testlabs, Communications Alliance and the Critical Infrastructure Centre of the Department of Homeland Security," his letter said.
"This would provide an opportunity for government, industry and other key stakeholders to participate in the development of this new capability."