Technology
Power plays: the growing competition to fuel energy transitions
Global demand for battery-producing lithium is expected to significantly rise over the next decade for use in the storage of renewable energy – so much that the US Geological…
Kip-to-currency?
A rare spate of headlines out of Laos last month trilled about a new bullet train that runs from the capital Vientiane to China, with the government heavily in debt after the…
China, Australia, and the Internet of Things
The world is being transformed by the Internet of Things (the IoT) as ever more devices and activities are linked through the internet and endowed with computing power. This…
Regulating unmanned underwater vehicles in Indonesian waters
According to the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, between 2018 and January 2021, a large number of Chinese vessels “deactivated” their AIS transponders – the automatic…
Economic diplomacy: Supply chains, sanctions, and Telstra Pacific
Sovereign nation
It is 18 months since Prime Minister Scott Morrison sent Australians off to their first locked-down Easter with the somewhat mixed message that the government…
Regulate against the machine
Book review: We, the Robots? Regulating Artificial Intelligence and the Limits of the Law, by Simon Chesterman (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
From Tesla’s self-driving cars…
Digital authoritarianism not just a China problem
According to 2019 data from the World Trade Organisation, China is the largest global supplier of telecommunications equipment (generating US$296 billion compared to US$169…
The law when putting autonomous military platforms on a shopping list
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) does not currently deploy highly autonomous devices – whether weaponised or not. Existing devices tend to be remotely piloted and unarmed, or,…
Semiconductors: the skills shortage
Semiconductors are foundational to the digital revolution. A global chip shortage – accentuated by US-China tensions, Covid-19, extreme weather events, as well as industry…
Risks versus opportunities in national security thinking
National security thinkers follow a distinct pattern when they consider Australia’s future defence requirements. For most, the preferred point of view is risk-based. A policy…