Nick Warner, the new director general of the Office of National Intelligence, has sounded the alarm about Australia’s lack of preparedness to counter cyber-threats.
Alan Porritt/AAP
We have not been able to develop an intelligence workforce that can keep up with the speed of advancing technologies and their threat to our national security.
Climate change is expected to increase the severity of natural disasters in the Asia-Pacific region, straining Australia’s ability to respond through humanitarian missions and fuelling more climate migration.
Vlad Sokhin/UNICEF handout
A Senate report recommended several measures the government should take to prepare for climate-fuelled migration, natural disasters and conflicts. The response so far has been underwhelming.
The Christchurch attack is a clear signal we need to change our approach to both hateful extremism and toxic political discourse in Australia.
David Alexander/AAP
To understand the threat better, we need to devote more resources to monitoring and tracking far-right forums and social networks and a national database tracking hate crimes.
Bernard Collaery’s whistleblower trial will be a key test of the National Security Information Act and the restrictions it places on defendants and the courts.
Lukas Coch/AAP
The purpose of the NSIA is to protect national security information from being disclosed in courts. But this can undermine a defendant’s ability to argue his or her innocence.
Australia has enacted 20 new anti-terror laws since 2014. Several more bills have been introduced by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and are now before parliament.
James Ross/AAP
Australia now has one of the most comprehensive ranges of anti-terrorism laws of any Western democracy. It’s time to think creatively about solutions, rather than continually reworking old strategies.
Chair in Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation; Scholar -In-Residence Asia Society Australia, Deakin University