Private security officers are the first line of protection across Australia's crowded places, critical infrastructure, transport hubs, data centres, major events and Defence sites. Australia increasingly relies on this workforce, yet the procurement, licensing and regulatory settings that shape it have not kept pace with growing security demands.
In 2018, ASPI's special report Safety in Numbers called the private security workforce the "forgotten partner" in counterterrorism and called for nationally consistent regulation. Eight years latera national approach remains elusive, licensing still varies across eight state and territory regimes, and the weaknesses identified in 2018 remain unresolved. Meanwhile, AUKUS, expanding critical infrastructure obligations and Brisbane 2032 are raising the scale and complexity of demand.
Drawing on desktop research, procurement and industry data, consultations with providers, peak bodies and experts, and a 2026 survey of security industry participants, this report argues that licence numbers and contracted guard hours are not reliable measures of protective capability. A licence confirms eligibility for regulated work, not readiness for a particular site or task. A contract that specifies officers and hours can say little about the skills, supervision, relief staffing and response procedures that make those hours useful.
The report assesses protective security procurement against four measures: capability, capacity, resilience and value. It examines at the gap between value-for-money principles and price-led practice, the difference between a national headcount and a deployable workforce, and the demands AUKUS places on screening, clearances and assured suppliers. It also examines how compressed margins affect workforce sustainability and how Brisbane 2032 will test Australia's ability to mobilise a qualified security workforce at scale.
For policymakers, procurement officials, Defence, regulators and industry, the report sets out practical recommendations for moving from buying posts to assuring protective security outcomes. That means specifying what each site needs, testing whether bids are realistic, verifying service quality and workforce capability, and publishing the costs and outcomes of reform.
Read the report to understand how Australia can turn a licensed workforce into reliable protective capability before the next crisis exposes the consequences of inaction.
