Latest Insights

Thinking of a career in politics? Women's political participation is under threat from escalating online abuse.

Almost 98% of businesses in Australia are small businesses, accounting for one third of GDP. Despite the importance of small businesses to the economy, this sector remains largely vulnerable to cyber-criminals. There have been proposals over many years, by government and others, to help small businesses improve their cyber security and protect their own and their customer’s data. But these efforts consistently fail to bring about a meaningful change, and the outcome is a small business sector hopelessly outgunned in the fight against cybercrime.

Last week's Optus outage was a real 'poor bugger' moment for all who have worked on the telco frontline Are there lessons to be learnt for infrastructure resilience planning for the nation?

Disingenuous actors are already using AI tools to support their operations. This isn't science fiction. Lachlan McGrath explores the AI enabled disinformation threat landscape.

With so many entities holding their information, often without their knowledge, Australians face real challenges in securing their personal data. What next?

A light hearted task for ChatGPT: "Summarise the Australian Government initiatives/work on AI - in iambic pentameter".

"This scam really tipped her into a much darker place...". The impact of being scammed stretches far beyond the loss of money and the sense of violation. For older and more vulnerable Australians, the impacts can reach into all aspects of life. They can erode confidence, and break our fragile relationship with technology, exacerbating isolation and feelings of helplessness. This victim impact statement has been shared with the hope that it will encourage stakeholders to come together to explore a framework of accountability and responsibility that supports these victims of crime.`

Earlier this month, the ACCC issued a stark warning to consumers following ‘alarming reports of Australians losing their life savings to a highly sophisticated banking impersonation scam’. The warning comes whilst the general population struggles to tell fact from fiction when managing unsolicited communication. But what of our more vulnerable citizens, those that increasingly rely on phones or the internet to keep them connected to essential services, how do they cope in these complex times? (First Published in the Canberra Times)

Last Monday’s release of the Defence Strategic Review turns a welcome spotlight on Australia’s National Resilience. Perhaps outstepping public perception of the role of Defence, recommendations have been made in the domain of climate change and clean energy. Defence has put a flag in the sand for a clean energy strategy by 2025. With, last month’s price increase warning by the Australian Energy Regulator, falling against the backdrop of legislation review by the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, the landscape is set to herald changes for Australia’s future energy strategy. Robert Davies, a UK authority on nuclear supply chains provides some insights on what might come next for Australia.

Counterintuitive at first glance, investing in military infrastructure can promote both peace and economic prosperity for Australia and our region. Alison Howe explores the basics.

Read how engaging with and participating in the arts has true power in cultivating more courageous, resilient and connected individuals. A perspective on social cohesion for National Resilience.

Australia is an enticing target for cyber criminals and nation-state adversaries due to its extensive internet penetration and wealthy economy. With Cyber security expertise a limited resource, how might we meet this challenge? Lachlan McGrath provides his thought leadership.

“This is an exciting opportunity to bring Canadian training and expertise to the region. It will result in further people-to-people connections, a more skilled and capable workforce, and long term gains. It also provides yet another way for our Indigenous communities to work together. Drone technology and training provides individuals and communities with options in a variety of areas that would be hard to imagine otherwise.” High Commissioner of Canada to Australia, H.E. Mark Glauser

“The Albanese Jobs Summit to be held in September provides a great opportunity to rethink our disaster response skill set and reduce pressure on the ADF -NISR outlines why and how” - Cheryl Durrant

By stating that the Solomon Islands face the imminent re-ignition of internal conflict in the absence of meaningful progress on agreed measures within Part Four of the Townsville Peace Agreement, Suidani has fired a warning shot to the international community.

The Solomon Islands only provides a single case study as macro actors continue to expand their influence in the Indo-Pacific, more work needs to be done to understand the strengths and vulnerabilities of Indigenous communities and nations faced with grey zone threats.

In Australia’s case, on all generally accepted measures of development—economic size, per capita GDP, literacy, life expectancy—Australia qualifies as an affluent Western, educated, industrialised democracy. Moreover, it’s getting its own nuclear submarine capability. What’s not to like? Often, it’s the slower, deeper trends and behaviours that shape our future more than the fast-changing, ephemeral items that compete for our attention in the news and social media. Let’s consider a few that may constrain Australia’s posture and ability to compete.

'As federal and state governments develop, implement and enforce post-Covid policy, the cracks in Australia’s social cohesion risk remaining unpatched and unattended to'. Damian Mutton draws on his recent research into violent extremism to reflect on the importance of considering social cohesion in parallel with Australia's Covid-19 National Transition Strategy.

Australia's influence in the region will increase by building trusting relationships and growing Pacific peoples' perception of the ADF as an unwavering advocate for women and girls. The objective is for all Pacific peoples to view the ADF as a legitimate and empowering organisation. An ADF that enables the Pacific community to set their strategic goals based on their local needs assessments.

Neurodiversity encompasses many neurological conditions, such as autism (including Asperger’s Syndrome), ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, amongst others. However, the neurodiverse offer much to our teams and workplaces. According to the Harvard Business Review, neurodiversity can be a competitive advantage. In this article I draw on personal experience to explore this hidden opportunity.

The work that Defence has invested into the Regional Force Surveillance Group (RFSG) and its pathway programs has enhanced the capability of their operations across Australia’s north and west while delivering tangible benefits to local people and generating sustainable options for their futures. Read about how this has been achieved in Jaya Pastor-Elsegood's first article for NISR.

Strengthening foreign policy in Australia requires the adoption of a human-centric and intersectional feminist foreign approach. This new policy approach could catalyse change within the causal masculine systemic and structural constraints currently shaping Australia's foreign policy. Moreover, engagement is valuable considering the growing rate of gender inequality in the Pacific, which undercuts stability and economic development and increases the risk of violent extremism. 

The resilience of our democracy is key to Australia's sovereignty. Our democracy is currently under stress from internal and external forces. To mitigate foreign interference in our democracy we must extend government support to the vulnerable non-government democratic institutions that are key to the health of our democracy. ‍

We need to develop a more sophisticated and robust understanding of what makes the resilient economy and industrial base needed to ensure Australian security in an uncertain future.

Reliance on personal digital spaces supports a new means for risk and threat communication

Addressing resilience at the societal level must be a strategically planned activity that carefully examines significant societal interactions to identify impacts on national cohesion

When Donald Horne described Australia as the 'lucky country', he wrote not praise but a warning

Good fences make good neighbours. By adding ballast to our bilateral relationships through people-to-people linkages, we can better manage future shocks and add resilience to Australia and our neighbourhood.