Office of Supply Chain Resilience

We focus on critical supply chain vulnerabilities that could impact Australia’s national interest.

This includes our:

• ​health, safety or wellbeing
• economic stability and viability
• national security
• international partners.

We advise the Australian Government on supply chain risks and potential actions to improve resilience.

We work to ensure ongoing access to essential goods and services, including:

• ​personal protective equipment (PPE)
• critical pharmaceuticals
• agricultural chemicals
• semiconductors
• telecommunications equipment
• water treatment chemicals
• critical plastics.

Working with industry

We engage directly with targeted sectors to help us understand Australia’s supply chain risks. These business insights can provide early warning signs of disruptions to critical supply chains.

We also host a supply chain roundtable with peak bodies across key manufacturing and services sectors, including:

• healthcare
• food production
• chemicals
• construction.

Supply chain resilience framework

We apply the following framework to identify and address disruption risk in Australia’s critical supply chains. The framework helps Australian Government agencies assess:

1. ​Vulnerability through:
   • quantitative and qualitative analysis
   • government and business data sources
   • engagement with stakeholders
   • scenario analysis.
      
2. Criticality by measuring the potential impact of supply disruptions on Australia's national interest.
    
3. ​Residual risk by understanding whether industry has enough opportunity, capacity and incentive during disruptions to:
   • prevent
   • absorb
   • adapt (substitute) or
   • transform processes.
      
4. Targeted and proportionate responses by considering which policy is most appropriate to manage any residual risk.

Types of policy responses

The framework includes 4 types of policy responses. These aim to:

• address supply chain disruption risks
• avoid unnecessary costs.