National Pillar
National Strategic Assets
Protecting Australia's Assets. Securing Our Future.
Australia's national strategic assets — its land, resources, infrastructure, energy, water, ports, defence facilities and essential services — are the foundation of our security, independence and prosperity. (PSUA) Pursue Australia believes these assets must be protected, managed in the national interest and kept under meaningful Australian control for the benefit of current and future generations.
Current Investigations & Priorities
Australian Ownership & Effective Control
Australia must retain meaningful control over assets essential to national security, economic stability and everyday life. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports stronger protections for nationally significant land, infrastructure, resources and essential services. Decisions about ownership, leasing and operation must prioritise Australia's long-term interests rather than short-term financial gains or arrangements that weaken national control.
Foreign Investment & National Interest
Foreign investment must not compromise Australia's independence or national interests. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports stronger scrutiny of foreign acquisitions involving strategic land, infrastructure, businesses and resources. This includes transparency around beneficial ownership, foreign government influence and the long-term consequences of transferring control over assets Australians may depend upon during emergencies or international disruptions.
Critical Minerals & Natural Resources
Australia's natural wealth should deliver lasting benefits to Australians rather than being exported without sufficient domestic value. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports responsible resource development, fair public returns, Australian processing and value-adding industries. Critical minerals essential to defence, technology, manufacturing and energy must be managed to strengthen Australia's industrial capability and long-term economic independence.
Agricultural Land & Water Security
Productive farmland and reliable water supplies are strategic national assets that must remain protected for future generations. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports safeguarding agricultural land from inappropriate development, maintaining national-interest protections over critical water resources and preventing ownership or land-use decisions that undermine food production, regional communities and Australia's ability to sustain its own population.
Ports, Airports & Defence Facilities
Australia's ports, airports, defence facilities and strategically important transport sites are essential to national security, trade and emergency response. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports strong safeguards over their ownership, leasing, operation and access. Commercial arrangements must not compromise defence readiness, essential supply routes, emergency operations or Australia's independent control of nationally significant facilities.
Energy Resources & Strategic Reserves
Australia must maintain reliable access to essential energy supplies and strategic reserves during international disruptions, natural disasters and national emergencies. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports affordable domestic energy, stronger fuel security, responsible management of national resources and sufficient reserves to protect households, agriculture, transport, manufacturing and essential services from preventable shortages.
Manufacturing & Industrial Capability
Australia should not depend entirely on overseas suppliers for equipment, materials and technologies essential to national security and everyday life. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports rebuilding domestic manufacturing, protecting strategically important industries, strengthening Australian-owned businesses and developing skilled workforces capable of producing, maintaining and repairing critical equipment within Australia.
Public Assets & Privatisation
Public assets developed through generations of Australian investment should not be sold or leased without demonstrating clear and lasting benefits to the Australian people. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports transparent assessments of privatisation, including effects on affordability, service access, competition, public revenue and national control. Short-term financial returns must not outweigh long-term public interests.
National Supply-Chain Resilience
Australia must be capable of maintaining essential supplies during international conflict, trade disruptions, natural disasters and transport interruptions. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports stronger domestic supply chains, diversified sourcing, strategic stockpiles and Australian production capability for critical medicines, fuel, food, industrial materials and equipment required to keep communities and essential services operating.
Strategic Asset Registers & Public Transparency
Australians deserve meaningful transparency about who owns, controls and benefits from assets essential to the nation's future. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports a comprehensive national strategic asset register, appropriate disclosure of ownership and leasing arrangements, scrutiny of foreign interests and accountability for decisions involving nationally significant assets. Legitimate security-sensitive information must remain protected while enabling effective public oversight.
Australian Ownership, Control & National Benefit
Protecting what belongs to all Australians.
(PSUA) Pursue Australia proposes that Australian majority ownership and effective control should be the default position for assets essential to national security, economic stability and the everyday wellbeing of Australians. This includes critical infrastructure, strategic land, essential services, major resource deposits and facilities with defence or emergency significance.
Ownership and operational control are distinct considerations. A foreign entity may hold a minority financial interest without exercising operational control, while an Australian-registered company may be effectively controlled by foreign interests through management structures, contractual arrangements or supply dependencies. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports assessments that examine effective control rather than nominal ownership alone.
Any reform to ownership or control arrangements must operate within Australia's existing constitutional and legal framework. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports lawful reform through transparent legislative processes, including appropriate compensation where existing rights are affected, rather than retrospective or arbitrary intervention.
National benefit criteria should be applied consistently and transparently when assessing proposals involving strategic assets. These criteria should consider long-term economic returns to Australians, employment and skills development, supply security, community impacts, environmental obligations and the preservation of Australian decision-making authority over nationally significant matters.
Where assets have already passed into foreign or private ownership, (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports reviewing whether existing arrangements continue to serve Australia's national interests and whether additional safeguards, reporting obligations or operational conditions are warranted.
Protecting Australian ownership and control is not about isolationism. It is about ensuring that decisions affecting Australia's future remain in Australian hands.
Foreign Investment, Resources & Strategic Industries
Australia's wealth must work for Australians.
(PSUA) Pursue Australia supports foreign investment that genuinely benefits Australia while opposing arrangements that transfer control of strategic assets, undermine national security or deliver disproportionate benefits to foreign interests at Australia's expense.
Resource Ownership & Extraction Rights
Australia's mineral and natural resource wealth belongs to the Australian people. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports ensuring that extraction rights, royalty arrangements and operational conditions deliver fair and transparent returns to Australians, including through domestic processing and value-adding requirements where strategically appropriate.
Royalties & Domestic Processing
Royalty rates and taxation arrangements for resource extraction should reflect the long-term value of Australia's non-renewable assets. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports reviewing whether current arrangements adequately compensate Australians for the permanent depletion of national resources and whether domestic processing requirements can strengthen Australian industrial capability.
Agricultural Land & Water Interests
Foreign ownership of productive agricultural land and water entitlements raises distinct national interest considerations. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports maintaining robust oversight of foreign agricultural land acquisitions, transparent registers of foreign ownership and protections ensuring that Australia's food production capacity and water security are not compromised by ownership arrangements that prioritise foreign interests.
Strategic Manufacturing & Supply Security
Australia's dependence on foreign suppliers for essential manufactured goods, components and technologies creates strategic vulnerabilities. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports identifying critical supply dependencies, developing domestic manufacturing capability in strategically important sectors and ensuring that foreign investment in Australian manufacturing does not create new dependencies or transfer essential capabilities offshore.
Public Assets, Strategic Reserves & Supply-Chain Security
Built by Australians. Managed for Australians.
Public assets represent generations of Australian investment and sacrifice. (PSUA) Pursue Australia believes decisions about their sale, leasing or privatisation must be subject to rigorous public scrutiny and must demonstrate clear, lasting benefits to the Australian community.
Asset Sales & Long-Term Leases
(PSUA) Pursue Australia supports transparent assessment of privatisation proposals, including independent analysis of long-term effects on service affordability, public revenue, competition, employment and national control. Long-term leases of strategic assets to foreign entities require particular scrutiny given the extended periods over which national interests may be affected.
Ports, Airports & Defence-Related Assets
Ports, airports and defence-related facilities occupy a unique position as both commercial assets and national security infrastructure. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports ensuring that ownership, leasing and operational arrangements for these facilities do not compromise Australia's defence readiness, emergency response capability or independent control of nationally significant transport and logistics infrastructure.
Energy & Fuel Security
Australia's energy security depends on maintaining reliable access to fuel, electricity generation capacity and strategic reserves. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports stronger domestic fuel reserves, transparent management of strategic energy assets and ensuring that energy infrastructure ownership arrangements do not create vulnerabilities during international disruptions or national emergencies.
Supply-Chain Resilience
Australia's supply chains for essential goods — including medicines, food, fuel, industrial materials and critical components — must be capable of withstanding international disruptions. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports identifying critical supply vulnerabilities, developing domestic production capability and maintaining strategic stockpiles sufficient to protect Australians during extended supply interruptions.
Australia's Constitutional Independence & International Relationships
Australia's future must be decided by Australians.
The following reflects (PSUA) Pursue Australia's proposed policy positions. Constitutional change in Australia requires a successful referendum under section 128 of the Constitution.
(PSUA) Pursue Australia proposes that Australia should become a republic with an Australian head of state, elected or appointed through a process determined by Australians. This proposal reflects a belief that Australia's constitutional arrangements should fully reflect its identity as an independent, sovereign nation.
Any change to Australia's constitutional arrangements, including the position of head of state, must be achieved through a referendum conducted under section 128 of the Australian Constitution. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports a transparent, well-informed public debate before any referendum is held.
Australia's relationship with the United Kingdom and other nations should be based on mutual respect, shared values and genuine reciprocity. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports maintaining constructive relationships with international partners while ensuring that Australia's sovereign interests are not subordinated to historical arrangements that no longer reflect contemporary realities.
International treaties, trade agreements and security arrangements must be assessed against Australia's long-term national interests. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports transparent parliamentary scrutiny of international agreements, particularly those affecting strategic assets, resource ownership, defence arrangements or Australia's independent decision-making authority.
Australia's participation in international organisations and alliances should reflect genuine national benefit. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports reviewing whether existing international commitments continue to serve Australia's interests and whether their terms remain appropriate given changes in the international environment.
Protecting Australia's constitutional independence does not mean withdrawing from the international community. It means ensuring that Australia engages with the world on terms that genuinely serve the Australian people.
Australia's sovereignty is not negotiable. Its constitutional future must be decided by Australians, for Australians.
Fair & Reciprocal Agreements with the UK and New Zealand
Shared history. Mutual respect. Genuine reciprocity.
The following reflects (PSUA) Pursue Australia's proposed policy positions on bilateral arrangements with the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
(PSUA) Pursue Australia proposes that arrangements between Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand should be based on genuine reciprocity — meaning that citizens of each country should have access to comparable rights, entitlements and opportunities in the other countries, subject to appropriate eligibility criteria and public resource safeguards.
Proposed reciprocal arrangements would cover healthcare access, employment rights, residency pathways, educational opportunities and social entitlements. Eligibility criteria should ensure that arrangements are sustainable, fair to existing residents and consistent with each country's capacity to deliver services.
Healthcare reciprocity should allow eligible citizens of Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand to access essential medical services in each country on comparable terms, subject to residency requirements and contribution conditions designed to protect public health systems from unsustainable demand.
Employment and residency arrangements should facilitate movement between the three countries for citizens who meet eligibility criteria, while ensuring that labour market protections, wage standards and employment conditions for existing residents are not undermined.
Educational reciprocity should provide comparable access to public education systems for eligible citizens, subject to capacity constraints and contribution requirements that ensure arrangements remain fair to domestic students and taxpayers.
All reciprocal arrangements must include safeguards protecting Australian public resources, services and entitlements. (PSUA) Pursue Australia supports arrangements that strengthen relationships between Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand while fully respecting Australian sovereignty and the primacy of Australian interests.
Genuine reciprocity means equal treatment, mutual respect and arrangements that work fairly for all parties.
Government Commitments: Promises vs Delivery
Accountability starts with asking the right questions.
(PSUA) Pursue Australia holds governments accountable for their commitments on national strategic assets. The following questions reflect areas where Australians deserve clear, evidence-based answers.
Questions the Australian public deserves answered:
- Which strategic assets have been approved for foreign acquisition in the past decade, and what national benefit assessments were conducted before approval?
- What royalty rates apply to major resource extraction operations, and how do these compare with international benchmarks for equivalent resources?
- Which ports, airports and defence-related facilities are currently subject to long-term leases to foreign entities, and what operational conditions apply?
- What is the current status of Australia's strategic fuel reserves, and how do these compare with the government's own stated targets?
- Which public assets have been privatised or subject to long-term leases in the past twenty years, and what independent assessments of long-term public benefit were conducted?
- What foreign ownership interests in Australian agricultural land and water entitlements are currently registered, and how is this information made publicly accessible?
- What national security assessments have been conducted for foreign investments in critical infrastructure, and what conditions or restrictions were imposed?
- Which domestic manufacturing capabilities have been identified as strategically essential, and what specific measures are in place to protect or develop them?
- What supply-chain vulnerabilities for essential goods have been identified by government agencies, and what stockpile or domestic production targets have been set?
- What public register or disclosure mechanism exists for ownership and control of nationally significant assets, and how is this information kept current and accessible?
These are not partisan questions. They are the questions any responsible government should be able to answer clearly and publicly.
Your Experience Matters
Your knowledge can help protect Australia's future.
Have you worked in defence, infrastructure, resources, agriculture, energy, manufacturing or public administration? Have you witnessed decisions about Australian assets that raised concerns about national interest, transparency or long-term consequences?
(PSUA) Pursue Australia wants to hear from Australians with direct experience, professional knowledge or community observations relevant to national strategic assets:
- Direct professional experience in defence, national security, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, energy, manufacturing, economics or public administration.
- Community observations about decisions affecting Australian assets, resources or strategic industries.
- Research, reports or reference materials relevant to national strategic asset protection.
Your contribution — whether a detailed professional assessment or a straightforward account of what you have witnessed — helps build the evidence base for meaningful reform. Contributions can be made through your local PSUA area structure or directly to the National Strategic Assets Pillar Team.
Get Involved
Volunteers can contribute to National Strategic Assets research by reviewing public ownership records, examining government asset decisions, contributing relevant professional knowledge and helping identify questions requiring evidence-based investigation.
(PSUA) Pursue Australia welcomes Australians who want to participate constructively in this work through the organisation's established volunteer and area structures.
Help Protect Australia's National Strategic Assets
(PSUA) Pursue Australia welcomes Australians with experience, knowledge or a genuine passion for protecting our nation's strategic assets and long-term independence.
Whether your background is in defence, national security, infrastructure, agriculture, mining, energy, manufacturing, economics, public administration or related industries, your knowledge and perspective can help strengthen this pillar.
You do not need formal qualifications to contribute. We also welcome community members who want to learn, share their experiences, participate in research or help identify issues affecting Australia's national interests.
Every Voice Counts. Every Contribution Matters.
Visit www.PSUAus.com to learn more about becoming a member and contributing to the National Strategic Assets Pillar.
Contact the Pillar Team
To contact the National Strategic Assets Pillar Team directly, email PSUA.Governance@gmail.com with the subject line National Strategic Assets.
For general enquiries about (PSUA) Pursue Australia, visit the Contact page.