One of Australia's most senior public servants, who will head Peter Dutton's new security super-ministry, says the mammoth consolidation of power is necessary to protect Australia from the "dark universe" of globalisation.
Laying out what he called the "philosophical context" for the forthcoming Department of Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo sounded a dire warning about the "evil" forces at play in an increasingly connected and mobile world.
Mr Pezzullo, who currently runs the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, referenced hard rockers AC/DC, media star Bec Judd and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy in an expansive speech to business leaders on Friday.
He warned the "emotional view" of home as a safe place was obsolete, and that households as well as governments and businesses needed to think about - and act on - the dangerous downsides of ongoing globalisation.
"The globalisation of terror, crime and indeed evil is becoming much more manifest and apparent to people," Mr Pezzullo said. He pointed to the so-called "dark web", a largely untraceable part of the internet, where markets for hacking, money laundering and hired hit men thrived.
"This is no laughing matter," he said. "Today there is a global dark web market for murder. You can jump on the web, if you know where to go, and you can contract a fly-in assassin."
Such was the intrinsic evil of the dark web that it needed to be "smashed" in the same way that western military forces opted to smash Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, Mr Pezzullo said.
"We engaged on a campaign of unconditional warfare to defeat someone who in the end was not going to be reasoned with," he said. "There are some of these practices ??? that are just so intrinsically connected to evil that you've just got to be willing to make those choices."
Mr Pezzullo said the co-ordination of Australia's security instruments - including ASIO, the Australian Federal Police, immigration and border authorities - was vital because "home is not what it used to be".
But he revealed the super-ministry, modelled chiefly on Britain's Home Office, would go even further and assume responsibility for critical infrastructure, community cohesion and the protection of democratic institutions from foreign interference.
Part of that job would involve shielding Australians from "the fracturing of public discourse and phenomenon of fake news", which was a threat to Australian sovereignty, Mr Pezzullo told the audience.
"Sovereignty is being compromised by fake news and global campaigns of information subversion and psychological warfare designed to undermine our democratic institutions and public discourse," he said.
"The state has to increasingly embed itself - not majestically sitting at the apex of society, dispensing justice - the state has to embed itself invisibly into global networks and supply chains and the virtual realm, in a seamless and largely invisible fashion."
The creation of a security super-ministry, considered under Tony Abbott but ultimately rejected, has been floated by Mr Pezzullo since at least 2001 when he was deputy chief of staff to Labor leader Kim Beazley.
His colourful speech to the Trans-Tasman Business Circle, first reported by The Mandarin, was peppered with references to popular culture and philosophy. Mr Pezzullo heaped praise on radio host Bec Judd, citing Mamamia's coverage of her decision to wear flat shoes to the AFL grand final "in case there was a terrorist attack". That demonstrated laudable judgment, risk savviness and "practical Australian sense" in the face of potential danger, Mr Pezzullo said.
He referred to The Lord of the Rings - "the books, preferably, the movies if you must " - and how the hobbits of the Shire were unaware of the sacrifices that were endured to save Middle Earth from Sauron.
Mr Pezzullo also quoted at length from the AC/DC song Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, about a hired hit man, and warned that "non-state cartels and criminal syndicates are in booming surplus".
The Home Affairs super-ministry will be led by Mr Dutton, the incumbent Immigration Minister and the de facto leader of the Coalition's conservative wing.
