Hi-tech race to combat China

Weapons and cyber defence will be accelerated under AUKUS and Quad as China pushes ahead with quantum technology and artificial intelligence.

Scott Morrison will say quantum technologies will help ‘protect us from advanced cyber attacks’. Picture: Google

Australia’s future weapons and cyber defence technologies – ranging from underwater drones to advanced explosives and swarming robots – will be accelerated under the AUKUS and Quad strategic partnerships to combat China’s massive investment in quantum technology and artificial intelligence.

Under a plan to bring forward the development of critical technologies, Scott Morrison on Wednesday will ask governments, universities and industry to target nine priority technologies including quantum, drones, genetic engineering, cyber security, AI, critical min­erals and advanced 5G and 6G communications.

Speaking at the inaugural Sydney Dialogue on Wednesday, the Prime Minister will say quantum technologies would enhance Australia’s defences by “enabling navigation in GPS-denied environments and helping to protect us from advanced cyber attacks”.

Mr Morrison will say the government’s $100m investment in a quantum and new critical technologies blueprint, which includes 63 technologies, would help Australia “take it to the next level”.

China’s world-leading quantum science and technology program and dominance in the critical minerals supply chain has forced the US, Australia and their Indo-Pacific allies to dramatically scale up investment and collaboration efforts.

Flagging Australia’s focus on technology that protects “our ­citizens’ autonomy, privacy and data”, Mr Morrison will warn that “not all governments see technology the same way”.

As the government ramps up its focus on national security ahead of next year’s election, Mr Morrison will position the AUKUS and Quadrilateral Security Dialogue partnerships as critical in strengthening “our co-operation in advanced and critical technologies and capabilities”.

Mr Morrison, who announced the AUKUS trilateral security pact with Britain and the US on September 16, will reveal senior officials are set to report back before the end of the year on a “work plan” outlining high-level co-­operation on security priorities.

“To state the obvious, AUKUS is about much more than nuclear submarines,” Mr Morrison will say. “Our trilateral efforts in AUKUS will enhance our joint capabilities and interoperability, with an initial focus on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities.

“Our officials will report back to leaders within 90 days of our announcement with a proposed AUKUS work plan.”

The AUKUS work plan will include exchanges of information, personnel, advanced technologies and capabilities, joint planning, collaboration in science and technology, and developing common and complementary security and defence-related science and industrial bases.

The three-day Sydney Dialogue – organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute to establish the nation’s leading security summit and complement Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue and India’s Raisina Dialogue – is headlined by speeches from Mr Morrison, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Mr Morrison will introduce Mr Modi on Thursday, with former prime minister John Howard introducing Mr Abe on Friday.

Expert panels at ASPI’s annual summit for emerging, critical and cyber technologies include Facebook vice-president and former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, Indian Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy, chief scientist Cathy Foley and Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews.

In the 29-page Blueprint for Critical Technologies framework document, Mr Morrison says “critical technologies are enabling rapid military modernisation, economic coercion, foreign interference and cyber threats”.

“As shifting global currents place liberal democratic values of openness and transparency increasingly under threat, Australia has a responsibility to shape the development and adoption of critical technologies internationally,” he says. “We must ensure that critical technologies and their applications embody the values that define our society and allow us to uphold the rule of law and human rights.”

Mr Morrison, who will invest $70m in a quantum commercialisation hub and task Dr Foley to develop Australia’s first national quantum strategy, will say that by setting critical technology priorities “we intend to drive consistency in decision making and focused investment”.

“Quantum science and technology has the potential to revolutionise a whole range of indus­tries, including finance, comm­uni­cations, energy, health, agri­culture, manufacturing, trans­port, and mining.

“Quantum sensors, for example, could improve the discovery of valuable ore deposits and make groundwater monitoring more efficient; and quantum communications could provide for secure exchange of information to better secure financial transactions.”

He will say the rapid technological advances come amid ­“immediate threats posed by Covid-19 and related economic disruption to climate change and geostrategic competition”.

“We are guided by our values as a liberal democratic nation – based on respect for the rule of law, human rights, economic and religious freedom, gender equality, and independent institutions.

“Australia … is committed to playing our part so that rules and norms around technology reflect the values of our open societies.”