A new study published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has found that Australia needs to improve its ‘research security’.
The report was written by a senior law lecturer from Southern Cross University, Brendan Walker-Munro who said that while Australia made great strides in 2018 in terms of espionage and foreign interference, more needed to be done to keep up with more sophisticated adversaries.
“Australia still lacks a clear, consistent national definition of ‘research security’ – a gap that has bred confusion, resistance and fatigue across the university and research sectors,” Walker-Munro said.
“For many, security remains synonymous with red tape, rather than resilience.”
Walker-Munro argues that the threats we face today are deliberate efforts to insert malicious insiders, target researchers through transnational repression, exploit data and cyber vulnerabilities, and manipulate legal frameworks through lawfare as opposed to data stealing or relationship cultivation.
The current measures include introducing policy and legislative reforms aimed at protecting the research sector, and Walker-Munro said these should be considered as early steps.
ASPI’s recent analysis argues that Australia’s research security posture must evolve, moving beyond the narrow lens of countering foreign interference and espionage to a broader, more integrated and risk-based framework,” he said.
“It identifies where fragmentation is manifesting, and how that has the potential to limit the extent to which Australia is able to address changes in the threats landscape.”
According to the report, the protection of Australian growth is important due to its vital role in our future economic growth and national security.
A London Economics report found that Australia’s Group Eight universities contributed US$66.4 billion to the national economy in a single year through the flow on effects of research, graduates, international students and employment.
Walker-Munro said Australia can now longer afford to ignore the issue of research security.
“Neglecting it puts the country at risk of being sidelined or excluded from important collaborative projects relevant to Australia’s national interest and shared interests with allies and international partners,” he said.
“Worse yet, and despite its initial leading position, Australia could quickly become the ‘weakest link’ among Western democracies striving to contain the ambitions of autocratic and draconian regimes.”
