AIIA

Cybersecurity with Dr Mohiuddin Ahmed

The internet was not designed with security in mind.  People with malicious intent are taking full advantage of its openness to disrupt the activities of individuals, enterprises, and states.  It is assumed that the cyber attack on the Australian Parliament House in March came from a state-based actor.  There has also been a recent surge in cyber incidents in the healthcare sector. Cyber criminals understand that this sector is a vulnerable pressure point and hospitals hit by ransomware attacks have had to part with significant sums of money.  Nation states have also paid millions in ransomware attacks in 2021 alone.  With other forms of cybercrime, the stakes can be far higher.  Cyber attacks on military hardware such as unmanned aerial vehicles, could have decisive impacts on military engagements.  So clearly, cybersecurity has implications for international relations.

In this talk, Dr. Ahmed will focus on how easy it is to launch cyber attacks, Australia's stance on cyber security, and what individuals can do to ensure cyber safety.

Space law, good governance, and advancing our space strategy with Professor Erica Techera

Innovative technological advances, new space actors, and ambitious strategies have drawn increasing attention to space and space-related activities. In Australia, focus has been sharpened further with the establishment of the Australian Space Agency and publication of the Australian Civil Space Strategy 2019-2028. Effective space governance is critical if we are to achieve our strategic goals and advance space-related activities in secure, safe, and sustainable ways. Australia has reformed its domestic space legislation, and other nations have also adopted laws that support their national agenda, but more harmonised approaches are needed to avoid potential risks and conflicts. International law has a potential role to play, yet the five international space treaties were adopted decades ago, and have since been supplemented with soft law and transnational arrangements. Furthermore, governance gaps remain as we seek to engage in commercial activities in space and consider possibilities such as living and working in space. In this podcast, Erika Techera discusses the space law and governance landscape, highlights national legislative and strategic developments, and explores some areas for future development.

The Return of Democratic Alliances with Professor Benjamin Reilly

A commitment to democratic values is becoming a new organising principle in international affairs. Major military (eg NATO), economic (eg OECD) and security (eg the Quad) groupings are increasingly promoted as alliances of liberal democracies, over and above their original core purpose. The Biden administration is planning a “Summit of Democracy” as it seeks to rebuild faith in the US-led order and its global alliances, while the UK has proposed expanding the G7 into a “D (democratic) 10”. The Australian government is a vocal supporter of this trend, arguing that the world is “increasingly polarised between autocracies and liberal democracies” and advocating “a world order that favours freedom”. This presentation examines this new framing of the international order, and its consequences for Australia’s relationships in the Indo-Pacific region. Does this new rhetoric suggest a shift in Australia’s traditionally “realist internationalist” foreign policy towards a more “liberal internationalist” model, where we will actively seek to promote democracy and the values of liberalism globally?

Human Traffic

After drug trafficking and weapons smuggling, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates human trafficking to be the third most profitable illegal business in the world.  In many countries, it is the most profitable.  The International Labour Organisation estimates the annual profits to be US$34.6 billion globally, devastating the lives of around 21 million people including 5.5 million children.

Human trafficking is on the increase.  It occurs in Australia and the risk of Australians abroad being trafficked is increasing.  At our March event, Chris Douglas will discuss the scope and scale of human trafficking, how it works, who is at risk (and how), and international and Australian efforts to prevent it.

Lurching Toward Normalcy: Insurrection, Inauguration, Impeachment

Join us with Professor Gordon Flake to talk about what the transition from Trump to Biden means for Australia

While we were watching the insurgency on Capitol Hill, the result of Georgia's runoff election turned that historically red state blue.  With Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, President Biden can pursue aggressive policies on carbon emissions.  That alone has major implications for politics in Australia and the way we live. What else?

But how durable are the Democrat majorities? The vote against impeachment shows that Donald Trump still exerts great influence over the Republican Party.  And just moments after the impeachment failed, Trump declared that his movement “to Make America Great Again has only just begun”.  For the next two years, the political battles in the US most relevant to Australia will be fought between moderate and progressive Democrats.  But what will the Republican Party look like when it will be contesting seats in Congress two years from now?  

AIIA WA Christmas Event with the Hon. Professor Stephen Smith

Australia's security since the end of WW2 has been underpinned by the alliance with the US.  By the end of the Cold War the US was a hyperpower, presiding over a world where rules based order, economic globalisation, and democracy were widely held norms.  "That America and that world", writes Hugh White, "is gone forever".

Even if Joe Biden is fully committed to restoring US hegemony in the Indo-Pacific, his immediate attention will likely be focussed on healing a divided country and containing Covid-19.  He may also face an uncooperative and activist Senate bent on following the isolationist tendencies of President Trump.

As a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a former Minister of Defence, Professor Stephen Smith is uniquely placed to understand what a Biden administration may mean for the Australia-US Alliance and the Indo Pacific.

Panel Discussion: Australian Trade after Covid-19

Australia is facing its worst trade outlook since the Great Depression. Covid-19 has caused a global economic recession. Lockdowns all over the world have constrained shipping and manufacturing. Global supply chains have been severely disrupted and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future. In the midst of this, China is blocking billions of dollars’ worth of imports from Australia in a move that many observers view as a retaliation to Australian policy.

At our November event Madeleine King MP, Dr Jeffrey Wilson, and Darryl Daisley discussed Australia's current trade outlook, the problems Australian exporters are facing, and what can be done about them.

US Presidential Election 2020

At our October event, two prominent Americans living in Perth with an intimate knowledge of the US political system, Professor Gordon Flake and Robin McClellan, shared their insights into the coming election and what either outcome may have meant for the US, Australia, and the rest of the world.

 

To find out more about Robin McClellan and Professor Gordon Flake click here

Not Always Diplomatic: An Australian Woman's Journey through international affairs

This podcast is a recording of the launch of Not Always Diplomatic: An Australian Woman's Journey through international affairs, a book by Dr Sue Boyd.  It was launched at The University Club of Western Australia by the Official Visitor of the Australian Institute of International Affairs for WA, The Governor, The Hon Kim Beazley AC. His speech starts at 3 minutes 45 seconds. There is also a foreword by the Publishing Manager of UWA Press, Kate Pickard, starting at 21 minutes and 20 seconds. Sue Boyd’s presentation starts at 24 minutes and 20 seconds

Not Always Diplomatic chronicles the life of a pioneer in international diplomacy and a career that has spanned the globe. Sue Boyd has been the head of Australian diplomatic missions in Fiji, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Bangladesh. She also had postings at the United Nations in New York and in the former East Germany. Sue Boyd has a story to tell from almost everywhere.

She shares this account of her life from her formative years in India, Germany, Ireland, Egypt, Cyprus and Britain through to her years at The University of Western Australia, where she was the first woman to become president of the student guild, beating, among others, Kim Beazley. She then explores her life as a high-flying official firmly ensconced in the ever-changing diplomatic landscape of the 80’s and 90’s, sharing with us her view of the practice of foreign relations, as seen from the trenches.

“An engaging account of life at the coalface by one of Australia’s most active and effective diplomats – and real pathfinder in leading our diplomatic establishment out of its sexist dark age” Gareth Evans, Foreign Minister 1988-96

The India-China conflict in the Himalaya: Cultures, Ecologies, Geopolitics

The recent violent clashes between India and China in Ladakh drew the world’s attention to a decades-old frozen conflict that is often neglected. The possibility of violent conflict though, is only one challenge facing the Himalayan region. In this presentation, Dr Alexander E Davis argues that the slow violence inflicted by state building and militarisation, intimately connected to geopolitical tensions, is the primary challenge facing the region and threatens its ecologies, cultures and languages.