FrontierSI calls for national leadership on positioning, navigation and timing

Melbourne, 23 June 2026

Australia has identified Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) as a growing national security challenge, but there is no single government authority responsible for managing the risks across Defence, critical infrastructure, and the broader economy, according to a new paper from FrontierSI.

The paper, ALIGN: Aligning Leadership, Integration and Governance of PNT in Australia, advises that Australia’s dependence on PNT has outgrown existing governance arrangements. Responsibility for PNT policy, risk management and long-term strategy remains split across Defence, civil agencies and industry, with no central authority to coordinate a national response. This leaves Defence operations and critical national systems exposed to disruptions that extend well beyond radio frequency interference and space weather, to include cyber vulnerabilities, supply chain risks, physical threats and geopolitical factors.

PNT services underpin national security, emergency response, transport, communications, and socio-economic activity. The systems Defence relies on are deeply interconnected with civilian and commercial infrastructure, reinforcing the need for a whole-of-nation approach to governance and resilience.

Graeme Kernich, CEO of FrontierSI said:

“PNT disruption is often perceived as a GPS only problem, but that framing misses the scale of what is at stake. Disruption to these systems can affect everything from Defence operations to the infrastructure Australians depend on daily. The time to act is now, while the government is actively shaping its national security and industrial agenda.”

To strengthen Australia’s stance, FrontierSI recommends the Australian Government take three priority actions:

• Establish a National PNT Office to provide whole-of-government leadership, policy coordination and risk oversight.
• Develop a National PNT Risk Framework to identify threats, vulnerabilities and cross-sector dependencies.
• Create a National PNT Strategy to provide long-term direction for resilience, capability development and investment.

FrontierSI recommends the National PNT Office be housed within the Department of Home Affairs, given its existing responsibilities for national security coordination, critical infrastructure protection and all-hazards risk management. The paper proposes a dedicated Defence-led National PNT Coordinator embedded within the Office, ensuring Defence requirements are integrated within a broader national framework. It further acknowledges Geoscience Australia’s continued leadership role in civilian PNT through its proposed Commonwealth PNT Roadmap. FrontierSI recommends these existing coordination mechanisms be used to commence national action while longer-term governance arrangements are established.

Jia-Urnn Lee, Strategic Growth Lead at FrontierSI commented:

“Other countries, including the UK, US, Japan and Canada, have already elevated PNT to their national agendas. Australia has the expertise and foundations in place, but needs a governance model that matches the criticality of PNT as a resilience challenge.”

The findings of this paper form part of FrontierSI’s Armouring the Clock project, funded under the Department of Defence Strategic Policy Grants Program. ALIGN builds on previous reports examining PNT disruption, governance gaps and emerging threats to Australia’s national PNT resilience.

To download a copy of the report, click HERE.

For more information, visit www.frontiersi.com.au or contact Jia-Urnn Lee: jlee@frontiersi.com.au.