This week in Australian foreign affairs: Marles and Keough attend the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference in Western Australia; Wong responds to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank; Conroy congratulates Australian Olympians heading to Paris; O’Neil responds to CrowdStrike IT outage, and more.

On 24 July, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles joined the Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister for Veterans Affairs Matt Keough at the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference in Western Australia. The event marked “the single biggest gathering of defence security ever in Perth.” According to Marles, this was indicative of the “geostrategic significance” of Perth as “the literal fulcrum between the Indo and the Pacific.” Perth will be the future “home of the Submarine Rotational Force-West, which is one of the key early expressions of AUKUS.” Marles’ comments further outlined that “we have for the first time a meeting of the chiefs of navy of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia happening on Australian soil.” The event will represent, “firstly, a continuous naval shipbuilding commitment to Perth, which has never been made by a commonwealth government before, but in combination think is the biggest defence industry proposition for Western Australia since federation.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong on 25 July responded in a statement  to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank. “The Australian Government has imposed Magnitsky-style targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on seven Israeli individuals, and targeted financial sanctions on one entity, for involvement in settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.” The statement calls on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and to “cease its ongoing settlement activity, which only inflames tensions and further undermines stability and prospects for a two-state solution.” The attacks have included “beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians resulting in serious injury and in some cases, death. The entity sanctioned is a youth group that is responsible for inciting and perpetrating violence against Palestinian communities.”

In a discussion with ABC’s Sabra Lane also on 25 July, Wong rejected calls for stronger actions against Israel, including recalling the Australian ambassador or severing trade ties. The Albanese government has continued to advocate for a ceasefire and to strengthen humanitarian assistance through the UN.

Minister for International Development and the Pacific, and Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy on 26 July released a statement extending the Government’s congratulations and best wishes “to the 104 athletes from 17 Pacific Islands nations who will be competing in 12 sports at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.” The statement highlighted the Government’s partnership, through PacificAus Sports, “with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and Oceania National Olympic Committee (ONOC) to provide support for more than 230 Pacific Islands athletes as they strived to qualify for the Olympic Games.” This partnership “highlights individual athletic excellence and strengthens the bond between Australia and Pacific Islands nations… Known as ‘The Warriors of Oceania’, they embody the spirit of unity and excellence, showcasing the rich cultural heritage and sporting talent of the Pacific. Their participation in the Olympic Games is a testament to their hard work, dedication, and talent,” the statement continued.

On 20 July, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil released a statement responding to the global CrowdStrike IT outage. CrowdStrike, an American cyber security company, issued a software update containing an error, leading computers to crash into bluescreen. Around the country, some checkouts at supermarkets were impacted, including major airlines. The statement called on Australians “be patient,” and to watch out for scams which proliferated after the event. In addressing questions about the need for Australian companies to be less reliant on single overseas vendors, O’Neil remarked that “there is a conversation here about what needs to be done when we have so many companies around the world who are reliant on one particular provider of technology. But I would also say that as with my cyber responsibilities, as I’ve often said to Australians, it is not feasible or possible for any government around the world to say that we’re never going to have IT outages and we’re never going to have cyber attacks.”

Dr Adam Bartley is the managing editor for AIIA’s Australian Outlook and weekly columnist for The Week in Australian Foreign Affairs. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and resident fellow at the Elliot School for International Affairs, the George Washington University. Adam also has positions as post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation RMIT University  and as program manager of the AI Trilateral Experts Group. He can be found on Twitter here.

This article is published under a Creative Commons License and may be republished with attribution.