COP26 progress, future submarines, vaccine passports

The first week of Glasgow’s COP26 summit is over, and we have seen a number of countries make landmark promises to help mitigate the effects of climate change. Dr Robert Glasser and Anastasia Kapetas discuss these commitments, Australia’s position during the conference and what’s in store for the remainder of the summit. With the government’s recent announcement that it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines and cancel the attack-class program, it looks like we might be waiting until the late 2030s until the first submarine is in service. Defence capability experts Dr Marcus Hellyer and Dr Andrew Davies consider the decision to acquire nuclear-powered submarines and discuss Australia’s potential naval capability gaps and how these gaps can be addressed. As international travel begins to re-open, digital vaccine passports are set to be a requirement in many parts of the world to prove your vaccination status. Gill Savage and Dr Teagan Westendorf discuss the challenges for the rollout of vaccine passports, potential issues with interoperability and how to address cybersecurity risks. Guests (in order of appearance): Anastasia Kapetas: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/anastasia-kapetas Dr Robert Glasser: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/robert-glasser Dr Marcus Hellyer: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/marcus-hellyer Dr Andrew Davies: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/andrew-davies Dr Teagan Westendorf: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/teagan-westendorf Gill Savage: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/gill-savage