The term “economic security” is having a bit of a moment. While generally unheard of a few years ago, the past three Australian budget speeches have all mentioned economic security and this year, the Australian government announced $38.9 million in funding to increase economic security and resilience and countries around the world are starting to move beyond free trade or investment deals to ink economic security deals. What is economic security? How does it relate to issues like the Iran war and competition with China? What can allies and partners do to bolster their economic security?
This year, the United States Studies Centre has joined forces with the UK High Commission to run two track 1.5 workshops on economic security – one in London and one here in Sydney. Olivia O’Sullivan, Chatham House Director of the UK in the World Programme and Hayley Channer, USSC Director of Economic Security joined the USSC Briefing Room podcast to discuss key findings from these closed-door discussions. This podcast was recorded in May, before the UK special election.

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat

From online chatbots to enormous data centres, it is increasingly difficult to ignore artificial intelligence in our daily lives. Do governments still stand a chance to shape the future of AI development? What could Australia’s data centre boom mean for the nation’s energy grid? Does Australia have a role to play when it comes to the Indo-Pacific’s regional AI capabilities?

Director of Strategic Technologies at the United States Studies Centre Olivia Shen, and Research Associate in Strategic Technologies Johanna Lim joined the USSC Briefing Room to answer these questions.

Last month the Trump administration submitted the largest defence budget request in history – US$1.5 trillion, which is a 40% increase from the prior year. At the same time, the administration is seeking to circumvent Congress’ ‘power of the purse’ through various legislative manoeuvres, effectively expanding the powers of the executive branch.

What can the budget request tell us about the Trump administration’s defence priorities? How are they changing the balance of powers through the budget process? Are these changes likely to be long-lasting or easily reversable?

Research Fellow Tom Corben and Senior Research Associate Esther Soulard recently published an explainer: Trump, Congress and the battle for the defence budget and they sat down with Director of Engagement and Impact Mari Koeck on the podcast to discuss.

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat

For our 100th episode, USSC CEO Dr Michael Green joins the podcast to discuss Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s visit to Australia last week. She and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shared a number of joint statements on economic security, critical minerals, energy security, cyber and defence and security cooperation and announced the Australia-Japan leadership dialogue. However, there was no joint press conference, no speech before parliament, no major interviews and, not surprisingly, far less media coverage than Mark Carney’s visit. Dr Green discusses the purpose of Takaichi’s visit to Australia and where Australia-Japan relations should go next. Dr Green worked in the National Security Council at the White House, and was Senior Vice President for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, alongside his role as Director of Asian Studies and Chair in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. He is a leading expert on Japan and knows Sanae Takaichi personally.

Recommended reading:

• Japan was first mover on economic security. Australia’s now a partner by Hayley Channer
• A partnership for the AJUS: Operationalising Australia-Japan-United States defence cooperation by Tom Corben, Christopher Johnstone, Prof. Peter Dean and Prof. Tetsuo Kotani
• The Japan opportunity for Australia by Dr Michael Green
• Developing a shared Australia–Japan agenda for economic security by Tom Barrett, Hayley Channer, Samuel Garrett and Sahara Hoff
• Operationalising Japan’s security role in Asia: A survey of experts in Japan, the United States and Australia by Dr Michael Green, Christopher Johnstone, Prof. Peter Dean, Nicholas Szechenyi, Tom Corben and Shizuka Takada
• How Takaichi can triumph — and what others can learn from Japan’s embrace of American power by Dr Michael Green
• US-Australia-Japan strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific: Testing trilateralism through crisis simulation by Dr Christopher Watterson, Dr Michael Green, Prof. Peter Dean, Prof. Nobukatsu Kanehara, Katsuya Yamamoto, Takuma Matsu
• AJUSINT: Advancing defence information and intelligence sharing between Australia, Japan and the United States by Tom Corben, Hirohito Ogi, Luke Collin, Carl Herse

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat

Throughout March and April, Pope Leo XIV began speaking out against the war in Iran and the violence, saying it was an “unjust war.” Shortly after 60 Minutes aired an episode with Catholic officials criticising the war, President Trump started attacking the Pope on social and then shared the now-infamous image of Trump as a Christ-like figure.

Why are both the Pope and Donald Trump so focused on speaking out against each other? What is the political fallout of the “Jesus Trump” image? Is this war of words unique or just par for the course?

Associate Professor David Smith joined Director of Engagement and Impact Mari Koeck on the podcast to discuss these questions. David teaches American Politics and Foreign Policy at the USSC and is also an expert on the history of religious persecution in America.

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat

Space exploration has recaptured the public imagination. The successful Artemis II mission to the Moon heralds a new era of human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit for the first time since the 1970s. The United States, China and other global space powers are now racing to return to the Moon and beyond.

But what role could Australia play in this 21st century space race? What are the opportunities and challenges in outer space? And why does anything that happens up there even matter down here on Earth?

Space expert Dr Kathryn Robison, Lecturer in American Studies at the United States Studies Centre and Senior Research Fellow at the Australasian Centre for Space Governance, joined USSC Senior Research Associate Samuel Garrett on the USSC Briefing Room to answer these questions.

Recommended reading:

• Harnessing Australia’s space strengths for the Alliance by Dr Kathryn Robison and Isobel Haddow

Amid rising global tensions, Taiwan continues to be a regional flashpoint in the Indo-Pacific. What is the current state of Australia-Taiwan relations? What challenges does Taiwan face in a new security era? How should regional allies and partners engage with Taiwan on its own terms — and what could this mean for China’s grand strategy?

Professor Peter Dean, Senior Advisor for Defence Strategy at the United States Studies Centre, and Professor Bec Strating, Director at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security, joined the USSC Briefing Room to discuss these questions. Along with other Australian security experts, Professor Dean and Professor Strating co-authored a new report in February: Australia-Taiwan relations: Policy options and priorities for engagement.

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat

From the expiration of the New START Treaty to the war with Iran, headlines about nuclear risks are consistently in the news at the moment.

How significant is the expiration of the New START Treaty? How have nuclear risks changed since the war with Iran began? What are the major nuclear threats facing the world at the moment?

Dr Daniel Salisbury joined the USSC Briefing Room to discuss these issues. Daniel is Senior Fellow for Nuclear Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the author of Secrecy, Public Relations and the British Nuclear Debate: How the UK Government Learned to Talk about the Bomb, 1970-1983.

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat