Can Australia defeat disinformation: from enemies foreign and domestic

Canberra: The Social Cyber Institute welcomes the ABC report today that the Australian government will insist on higher standards in government departments for cyber defence against foreign influence. But there is a bigger gap that needs to be filled.  

‘Several research studies published in 2023 and 2024 have identified lack of an appropriate national coordination institution designed to meet these disinformation threats’, according to Professor Greg Austin. ‘Despite increased emphasis on the cyber domain, our existing public and private tools to defeat information and influence operations are inadequate or at least incomplete.’

‘Recent statements by ASIO chief Mike Burgess on the disinformation threat to Australia have not been matched by clarity on who leads on defeating such campaigns in their entirety’, according to Austin.

Researchers in Australia are calling for Australia to adopt a whole-of-society approach to the defence of the cyber information environment:

• Crowdsourcing an Australian cyber intelligence and information militia (Social Cyber Institute, released 8 July 2024)
• What does it look like for Australia to Use all Tools of Statecraft in the Information Environment (AP4D, April 2024)
• Building Resilience with Information Literacy and Information Health (News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, August 2023)

‘These reports are a wake-up call about a missing link in national defence’, Austin said. ‘Sweden set up its Psychological Defence Agency over two years ago, but Australia is yet to respond as comprehensively as Sweden to new disinformation threats’.

Media alert: International Webinar on 25 July featuring Professor Dan Svantesson, Bond University, and Professor Mathieu O’Neil, University of Canberra, contributing authors to the above reports.

The Social Cyber Institute (SCI) creates new social science insights to complement technology in the fight for a more secure cyberspace. SCI is a non-profit organisation supported by the Social Cyber Group which offers advisory and training services in cyber policy.

The Social Cyber Institute (SCI) creates new social science insights to complement technology in the fight for a more secure cyberspace. SCI is a non-profit organisation supported by the Social Cyber Group which offers advisory and training services in cyber policy.

Greg Austin

+61450190323 greg.austin@socialcyber.co