Closing the (National Security) Gap

Foreign interference operations are shaping Australian domestic policy, but the target audiences have never been identifed by intelligence organisations. This paper seeks to highlight one of the major risks to Australian society—the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Although an internal issue, vulnerabilities and gaps in social groups have been exploited in other jurisdictions. It merits then to look critically at Australia, a continent and country that has limited modern experience in domestic insurrections and confict. It does, however, have a long history of colonial confict, which has shaped health and social outcomes for its Indigenous population. Through a legal-medical perspective, this paper addresses frst the national security risks that have shaped Australian legal thinking with respect to First Nations, and then how modern information war practices can target so-called 'useful idiots' and 'fellow travellers' in the Closing the Gap police.