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- November is the season of political global summitry. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the APEC Leaders’ Week in Peru, ahead of the G20 Summit in Brazil. The PM emphasised free trade and no retreat from action on climate change. Following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping both leaders expressed their commitment to free trade, presumably a response to threats by incoming US President Donald Trump to impose 10-20 percent tariffs on all imports into the US and up to 60 percent on Chinese goods. The Australian economy is likely to be buffeted if either of these tariff threats is realised. Meanwhile at the COP 29 Climate Change Conference in Azerbaijan, Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen declined to sign Australia up to a US-UK civil nuclear energy pact, despite Australia being included in an early UK press release as a member. The non-signing caused a furore in Australia where the Government and Opposition traded blows over which had the worst plan to combat climate change. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton claimed the government had “embarrassed” Australia on the international stage and the transition to renewables would cost billions more than so far conceded. While the Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles described the Opposition plan to build nuclear power stations as providing the most expensive electricity on the planet. The Coalition also asked how the Labor Government could commit to AUKUS nuclear submarines while not endorsing a supporting civil nuclear industry.
- Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles announced Japanese forces would train alongside US marines and Australian troops in Australia’s north as a continuing strengthening of defence ties between all three countries. Minister Marles, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese counterpart Nakatani Gen met in Darwin amid ongoing concerns that China may attempt to take Taiwan by force. The announcement came after Australia and Japan signed a closer security ties declaration in October, which drew criticism from Beijing. India, which was absent from the talks in Darwin, has also agreed to join the maritime collaboration. The US has been rotating up to 1500 marines through Darwin for the exercises since 2011.
- AUKUS partner governments have signed an agreement to cooperate on the development of hypersonic missiles and technologies. The Hypersonic Flight Test and Experimentation Project Agreement, under Pillar II of the AUKUS pact, states the partners may use one another’s testing facilities and share technical information concerning the development, testing and evaluating of hypersonic systems. The US, UK and Australia entered the trilateral AUKUS pact in September 2021 to enable the countries to support one another’s security and Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet acquisition and build.
- AIDN held its 3rd Annual Policy Symposium and Sovereign Capability Showcase at Parliament House on Monday 18 November. AIDN members gathered in the Parliamentary theatrette to hear from Ministers, MP’s, AIDN and defence officials on defence and industry policy. While the Showcase featuring displays by 24 AIDN members in the Great Hall was also well received. AIDN Board Chair, Carl Quarterman said AIDN members had been patient while the government overhauled defence policy, but concerns remained about an uptick in FMS purchases and lack of contracts, which was still seeing too many SME’s exit defence industry. Mr Quarterman also paid tribute to AIDN CEO Brent Clark’s efforts in boosting the national profile and influence of AIDN. Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said he very much welcomed AIDN’s policy advocacy and achievement in making the Symposium and Showcase a fixture on the annual defence calendar. Minister Conroy suggested after a period where the Government had necessarily overhauled defence policy to meet a more challenging global strategic environment, there were opportunities for SME’s. This included on such programs as AUKUS Pillar 1 and Pillar 2, Global Supply Chain, infantry fighting vehicles and global weapons explosive ordinance.
- The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Emerging and Disruptive Technologies (EDT) program has signed 21 contracts as part of an investment of over $60 million with Australian universities and industry partners. The EDT program is seeking to advance the development of existing and new capabilities that help deter hostile acts against Australia and in the region. Recipients included: Analog Quantum Circuits in QLD, Consunet Pty Ltd in South Australia, Nomad Atomics in Victoria and Q-CTRL Pty Ltd in NSW. A total of 179 proposals from across the national science and technology ecosystem were received as part of this call-out for EDT proposals. ASCA is seeking innovative proposals for its next EDT program.
- Cyber threats from State actors, cybercriminals and hacktivists are all on the rise according to the annual Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Threat Report. In FY2023-24, business email compromise and fraud were among the top self-reported cybercrimes for businesses in Australia. Ransomware and data theft extortion also remained a pervasive and costly threat. The Top 3 self-reported cybercrime types for business were email compromise (20 per cent), online banking fraud (13 percent) and business email compromise fraud (13 percent). The average small business loss per incident was $49,600 (up 8 per cent), medium business $62,800 (down 35 percent), large business (down 11 per cent). The ASD suggests critical infrastructure organisations should adopt a stance of ‘when’ not ‘if’ a cyber security incident will occur. While all organisations should have a cyber security incident response plan and assess it regularly to ensure an effective response and fast recovery.
