Guest speaker: Andrew Wallace (Federal MP for Fisher) 

Andrew has had an interesting career – a carpenter, a builder, a barrister and an MP since 2016. 

He is now deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee for Intelligence and Security (aka The PJCIS) in the Federal Parliament. This is the oversight committee of all of Australia’s Intelligence Agencies, Foreign and Domestic. He is also Deputy chair of the Defence sub-committee. 

Where we are right now in the world is not a particularly good place. It has been described as the “most unstable geopolitical environment since the second world war”. Democracies are seeing increasing amounts of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. – “Grey Zone warfare – including attacks on the democratic institutions of western liberal countries. Director-General of Security, Mike Burgess the head of ASIO, has described Australia’s greatest threat as of today as being Foreign Interference. 

He stressed the importance of people being aware of the risks that we face. There is a War on European soil. If there was no pushback on V Putin, there is no knowing where he would stop. Australia needs to be smarter in development of Asymmetric warfare technologies. Australia needs to be able to provide potential adversaries with “Pause for Thought”. He discussed Regional issues, including Taiwan where he is due an imminent visit. He discussed the US investments in Airbases etc in Northern Australia. 

The first stage of modern warfare is not through the firing of munitions, but through cyber warfare. He discussed the “Pause for Thought” impact of nuclear submarines. and the timescales for the AUKUS agreements. UK and US submarines are Australian waters now.

Hello Friends and Rotarians

Only 10 days to go to the annual Rotary Peace Fellow Seminar.  Come and be inspired by Class 21. Hear from a group of young people who are making a positive difference in the world.  This is a free event but you must book.  It includes Morning tea, Lunch and Networking and drinks at the close.