Domestic engagement
The Australian Government considers critical energy infrastructure to be those physical energy facilities, energy supply chains, information technologies and communication networks that, if destroyed, degraded or rendered unavailable for an extended period, would significantly impact on energy security and energy supply, as well as the overall social and economic well-being of the nation.
The responsibility for protecting critical infrastructure is shared between critical infrastructure owners and operators, the commonwealth and state and territory governments. A key initiative in building the necessary business-government relationships is the Trusted Information Sharing Network 
for Critical Infrastructure Protection (TSIN), led by the Attorney General’s Department. The TISN provides opportunities for owners and operators of critical infrastructure work together by sharing information on security issues and interdependencies between sectors which affect critical infrastructure. The network is made up of a number of Infrastructure Assurance Advisory Groups (IAAGs) for different business sectors, and is overseen by the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council (CIAC).
The Department, as part of the TISN, is responsible for providing secretariat support to the Energy Infrastructure Assurance Advisory Group (EIAAG), a business-government partnership which seeks to share information on hazards and vulnerabilities, and identify mitigation strategies to address them. It also shares information with other IAAGs, such as banking and finance and the communications sectors on the interdependencies between these sectors and the energy sector.
International collaboration
The International Electricity Infrastructure Assurance Forum (IEIAF) was established in 2004 to foster international collaboration and mutual assistance on issues related to electricity infrastructure assurance, amongst countries with common infrastructure assurance challenges. The IEIAF consists of government and electricity industry representatives from the five participating countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.