ASPI Podcast: Policy, Guns & Money

Semiconductors are the incredibly sophisticated and complex computer chips that power all modern electronics. They’re essential for everything from smartphones to nuclear submarines and from medical equipment to wireless communications. There’s been an increased focus on semiconductors of late, with the passing of the CHIPS and Science Act in the United States and tensions in the Taiwan Strait over Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. In this episode, Fergus Hanson speaks to Alex Capri and Professor Bob Clark about the semiconductor supply chain, how geopolitics play into this resource, and why semiconductors matter. They discuss their findings for the new ASPI report ‘Australia’s semiconductor national moonshot’, which details how Australia can develop its semiconductor manufacturing industry. ASPI Report: Australia’s semiconductor national moonshot: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/australias-semiconductor-national-moonshot Guests (in order of appearance): Fergus Hanson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/fergus-hanson Alex Capri: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/alex-capri Bob Clark: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/robert-clark Music: "Riviera" by Maarten Schellekens - via the FreeMusicArchive.org

Following the Honiara riots in November 2021, the Chinese Communist Party has pushed false narratives in coordinated information operations in an attempt to shape Solomon Islands public perception and to undermine the country’s relationships with Australia and the United States. To discuss this, David Wroe speaks to Blake Johnson, lead author of ASPI’s latest report on the CCP’s information operations in Solomon Islands ‘Suppressing the truth and spreading lies’. With India’s Foreign Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar due to visit Australia in the coming days, Baani Grewal asks Professor Ian Hall for his assessment on how India sees its relationship with Australia and the role of Foreign Minister Jaishankar in shaping Australia-India relations. They also discuss India’s relationship with China and Russia, including Modi’s comments to Putin at the recent SCO Summit. Recently, it was reported that the Australian Government would repatriate Australian families of Islamic State members from Syria. 16 women and 42 children have been held in Syria for over three years since the collapse of ISIS in March 2019. Olivia Nelson speaks to Katja Theodorakis about the risks associated with bringing the women and children home, and risks of leaving them there, and how international partners are approaching this challenge. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/suppressing-truth-and-spreading-lies Guests (in order of appearance): David Wroe: @davidwroe (Twitter) Blake Johnson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/blake-johnson Baani Grewal: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/baani-grewal Dr Ian Hall: https://www.griffith.edu.au/griffith-business-school/departments/government-international-relations/contact-us/ian-hall Olivia Nelson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/olivia-nelson Katja Theodorakis: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/katja-theodorakis Music: "Ten Petal Rose" by Ketsa, Independent Music Licensing Collective (IMLC) via the FreeMusicArchive.org

Last week, Optus notified the media and its customers that personal data had been compromised in a cyber attack. The compromised data included names, dates of birth, postal addresses, drivers licence and passport numbers. Fergus Hanson and Jocelinn Kang discuss the implications of this breach, the dangers of cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, and why Australia should consider prohibiting the payment of ransom demands. Since 2017, Wall Street Journal’s Liza Lin and Josh Chin have been covering the CCP’s increasing use of surveillance technology to control society, which is featured in their new book ‘Surveillance State’. Dr Samantha Hoffman speaks to Liza and Josh about the use of surveillance tech in smart cities and the challenges of reporting on China following their expulsion. Olivia Nelson speaks to Lisa Sharland about the prospects for UN reform and what the reforms might look like, why the UN remains relevant and key outcomes from the UN General Assembly’s High-level Week. Mentioned in this episode: ‘Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control’ : https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250821386/surveillancestate Guests: Fergus Hanson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/fergus-hanson Jocelinn Kang: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/jocelinn-kang Dr Samantha Hoffman: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/samantha-hoffman Josh Chin: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/josh-chin Liza Lin: https://www.wsj.com/news/author/liza-lin Olivia Nelson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/olivia-nelson Lisa Sharland: https://www.stimson.org/ppl/lisa-sharland/ Music: "Caribetron" by Quincas Moreira

Plenty of security experts feel that the defence industry could learn a bit from Silicon Valley when it comes to moving more quickly, embracing disruption and making quicker decisions. One of them is Dr Bill Greenwalt of the American Enterprise Institute, one of the most sought-after US thinkers on defence acquisition. He’s a former Senate Armed Services Committee staffer and deputy defense undersecretary for industrial policy. Today, Dr Greenwalt speaks with ASPI’s Bec Shrimpton about Australia-US industry and tech collaboration, and about how to stay ahead in the innovation race that lies at the heart of today’s strategic competition. In our second segment, ASPI’s Vahri Fotheringham talks to Shane Huntley, the head of Google’s threat analysis group. They discuss Google’s recent six-part documentary about the cybersecurity overhaul the company went through after it was hacked by China in 2009 in what became known as Operation Aurura. They also discuss steps that consumers and companies can take to improve their cyber security in a timely exchange following the high-profile hacks of Optus and Medibank, and the release today of the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Annual Cyber Threat Report. https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/reports-and-statistics/acsc-annual-cyber-threat-report-july-2021-june-2022 Music: "Up From Here" by Independent Music Licensing Collective (IMLC) via the FreeMusicArchive.org

Legislating a 43% emissions reduction target is a welcome start, but it’s not enough. That was the message from former Kiribati President Anote Tong and former Palau President Tommy Remengesau on their recent visit to Canberra. For Australia to be able to look future generations of Pacific Islanders in the eye, it needs to do more to contribute to lowering global greenhouse emissions, including ending fossil fuel exports. Guests: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anote_Tong - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Remengesau_Jr. Photo: "Pacific Island" by Jamie Oliver - https://www.flickr.com/photos/theworldfishcenter/6324398053 Music: "Acceptance" by Maarten Schellekens - https://freemusicarchive.org/music/maarten-schellekens/artistic-works-2022/acceptance-1/

“Too big to fail.” How’s that for a bit of pressure on the AUKUS partnership on its first birthday? Today on Policy, Guns and Money. ASPI executive director Justin Bassi speaks with Becca Wasser, Defence Fellow and head of The Gaming Lab at the Center for a New American Security. Becca says AUKUS is such an essential show of commitment between friends and allies, that its failure would mean the failure of the US national defence strategy and potentially for the very idea of integrated deterrence. They also talk about CNAS war games – where failure is not just an option but is encouraged and get into some deep questions about a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, including Australia’s role in deterrence and the million US dollar question - when might Beijing decide it’s the right time? Guests: Justin Bassi. https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/justin-bassi Becca Wasser. https://www.cnas.org/people/becca-wasser Music: "Clarity" by Makaih Beats. via the FreeMusicArchive.org

On 8 September, ASPI hosted the event ‘Beyond the sandpit: Counterterrorism and resilience in an age of strategic competition’. The event focused on how we can translate the lessons and gains of the GWOT into a forward-looking, resilience-focused approach that ensures continued support and engagement with Afghan civil society while also addressing long-term security and stability concerns. Following an introduction by ASPI’s Executive Director Justin Bassi, the event began with a keynote address by Saad Mohseni, Director of MOBY Group. Following the address, Siobhan Heanue (Journalist, ABC News) and Matt Anderson PSM (Director, Australian War Memorial) joined ASPI’s Katja Theodorakis for a discussion on building the partnerships needed for a sustainable and secure Afghanistan, learning from history and ensuring countries like Australia are not so distracted by other domestic and international challenges that they miss developments surrounding terrorism and extremism.

In this week’s episode of Policy, Guns & Money, we start with Ulie Yildirim’s conversation about continuity and change in war with Professor Beatrice Heuser, Chair of International Relations at the University of Glasgow. Professor Heuser this week delivered the 2022 J.G. Grey Oration at the Australian War College. She and Ulie discuss her oration message, that we need to rethink many of our longstanding beliefs about warfare. Next; it’s a cardinal question... what have we actually learnt from two-and-a-half years of the COVID-19 pandemic? Everyone agrees that the next biothreat is a matter of when, not if, but what are the future dangers and how prepared are we to face them? To explore these questions and more, Jasmine Latimore speaks with Associate Professor David Heslop from the University of New South Wales’ School of Public Health and Community Medicine. Our guests this week; Ulas Yildirim. https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/ulas-yildirim Professor Beatrice Heuser. https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/staff/beatriceheuser/ Jasmine Latimore. https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/jasmine-latimore Associate Professor David Heslop. https://sph.med.unsw.edu.au/people/associate-professor-david-heslop Music: "The lullaby of the free hell" by Koi Discovery - FreeMusicArchive.org Image: Carl von Clausewitz

Fergus Hanson speaks to Manuel Muñiz, Provost of IE University and Professor of Practice in International Relations, and former State Secretary at the Spanish Foreign Ministry about how emerging technologies are affecting employment, global leadership and social and economic inequality. They explore the way these systemic inequalities are playing out internationally, and how democratic and authoritarian states are impacted. Speaker Pelosi’s recent visit to Taiwan prompted a predictably strong response from Beijing, including threats of military action. Dr Alex Bristow speaks to Elsa Kania, Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at CNAS, about China’s reaction and the sentiment within Taiwan, as well as the long-term effects of the latest developments. ASPI’s David Wroe speaks to Lydia Khalil, Research Fellow on Transnational Challenges at the Lowy Institute, about her latest book, ‘Rise of the Extreme Right: A Lowy Institute Paper’, which takes a close look at right-wing extremism in Australia and globally. They consider how disaffection with democracy is helping fuel RWE and why people are moving away from mainstream political ideologies. Mentioned in this episode: ‘Rise of the extreme right: A Lowy institute Paper’: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/rise-of-the-extreme-right-a-lowy-institute-paper-penguin-special-9781761046353 Guests (in order of appearance): Fergus Hanson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/fergus-hanson Manuel Muñiz: https://www.ie.edu/school-global-public-affairs/faculty-and-research/faculty/manuel-muniz/ Alex Bristow: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/dr-alex-bristow Elsa Kania: https://www.cnas.org/people/elsa-b-kania David Wroe: https://twitter.com/davidwroe Lydia Khalil: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/people/experts/bio/lydia-khalil Music: "Metro" by Yung Logos

In this special episode of Policy, Guns and Money, Dr Marcus Hellyer speaks to Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and Anduril Industries and Dr Shane Arnott, Anduril Industries’ Chief Engineer. They discuss defence industry, improving defence procurement, and bringing a Silicon Valley approach to deliver capabilities faster. Guests (in order of appearance): Dr Marcus Hellyer: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/marcus-hellyer Palmer Luckey: https://www.anduril.com/leadership/ Dr Shane Arnott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanearnott/ Music: "Viscid" by Signal - via freemusicarchive.org