At a time when Australia faces the most challenging strategic outlook since the Second World War, there is no more important issue for Australian security than increasing the capabilities of our intelligence agencies and the development of a robust national security policy system. The challenge facing Australia is to define our national security priorities in today's globalized world and create a national security architecture for the 21st century that can enable Australian Intelligence Communities (AICs) to adequately protect the Australia and Australian interests. To combat the growing aspects of asymmetric and transnational threats, the Australian Government needed to implement a National Security Policy (NSP) that was effective, adaptable, flexible, easily transferable and adapted to the changes of the coming years and of which intelligence agencies Australians need to be able to meet these needs. Preserving national security is a fundamental duty of government, and in fact there can be no higher interest. In this essay I will provide details of the Australian National Security Statement (NSS) which outlines our first National Security Policy and summarize the roles and responsibilities of the AIC agencies. I will discuss the impact this has on foreign policy and provide a description of how the NSS came to be and the key points that led to the reform and restructuring of the NSP. I will also analyze NSP in a number of key policy areas such as climate, migration and medicine. Finally, I will examine whether the NSS has produced better outcomes for the safety of all Australians and Australia. Australia's first national security policy On 4 December 2008, the Honorable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Au...... halfway through .. ....ity in the Australian Intelligence Community', in C Ungerer (ed.), Australian Foreign Policy in the Age of Terror, UNSW Press, Sydney.Matthews, J 1989, 'Redefining Security', Foreign Affairs, 68(2 ), 162-177.Oatley, C 2000, ' Australia's National Security Framework A Look to the Future', working paper 61 presented to the Australian Defense Studies Centre, Canberra, October.O'Connor, M 2006, 'Australia's Vulnerabilities', Defender, Winter, pp. 19-23.Ungerer, C 2008, 'The intelligence reform agenda: what comes next?', Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Policy Analysis, no. 20.Ungerer, C 2008a, 'A new agenda for national security', Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Special Report, no. 15.Ungerer, C 2009, 'Connecting the docs: towards an integrated national security strategy', Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Policy Analysis, n.. 53.