AI Consequences for Australia

In May 2026, the Social Cyber Institute decided to bring to bear its collective wisdom and its international networks to drive policy focus on the consequences of artificial intelligence for Australia, its residents and the society. We will launch the project at this webinar:

 

Online 27 May 2026 4.00 pm Sydney time

​

We will present recent research research findings and insights on public policy from  Fellows of the Institute

​

• Agentic AI and Cognitive Warfare? Dr Gary Waters, Distinguished Fellow, Social Cyber Institute

• Biological Threats? Dr Brendan Walker Munro, Distinguished Fellow, Social Cyber Institute

• Workforce impacts? Professor Greg Austin, Co-founder, Social Cyber Institute

​

​

​

 

​Agentic AI and Cognitive Warfare? Dr Gary Waters, Distinguished Fellow, Social Cyber Institute

AI should be treated as strategic infrastructure for Australia, especially as agentic AI could strengthen critical infrastructure resilience (especially cyber defence). However there are delivery, governance, and national security considerations required to realise benefits while reducing harm. Australia should aim for safe delivery of agentic AI, with the goal of augmented intelligence that strengthens human judgment, while recognising that the potential for cognitive warfare and AI-enabled disinformation need to be treated as a major national security risk.

 

​​Biological Threats? Dr Brendan Walker Munro, Distinguished Fellow, Social Cyber Institute

There is a lot of public commentary around the use of artificial intelligence to create potential biological weapons – but how accurate is the hype? Though frontier AI models do not currently possess the capabilities to build bioweapons from scratch, they do lower the barrier for entry for actors wanting to maliciously use biotechnology or life science research. This presents opportunities to look for signals of malicious use, which could be more beneficial and cost-effective than trying to code ethics into digital AI platforms.

 

Workforce impacts? Professor Greg Austin, Co-founder, Social Cyber Institute

There is not yet enough data to allow a robust and comprehensive analysis of  AI impacts on Australia's workforce. There are some credible indicators of emerging trends and likely outcomes. Disruptions will likely be severe both in reduced job opportunities for lower skilled workers and in more demanding job specifications for executive level roles.

  

Speaker biographies

 

Dr Gary Waters is a Distinguished Fellow with the Social Cyber Institute. Gary served for just over 33 years in the Royal Australian Air Force (retiring early as an Air Commodore); served as a senior public servant in Defence for a further four years; and worked in the private sector as Head of Strategy for Jacobs Australia for seven years. He retired in 2013 and now works on a casual basis as an independent strategy consultant. He has written over twenty books or papers on diverse topics, including aerospace; logistics; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; information superiority; cyber security; and cyber warfare. Gary continues to pursue his interests in strategy and high-level policy, and in emergent and disruptive technologies, including those associated with digital transformation and cyber security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (graduating with majors in accounting and economics); a graduate of the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force Staff College; a graduate of the University of New South Wales, with an MA (Hons) in history; a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors; and a graduate of the Australian National University with a PhD in political science and international relations. He is currently a founding director (since 2018) of the Integrated Institute for Economic Research – Australia. He is also the strategic advisor (since 2022) to the CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Critical Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Centre – Australia.

 

A/Professor Brendan Walker-Munro is a Distinguished Fellow with the Social Cyber Institute and an Associate Professor (Law) with the Faculty of Business, Law & the Arts at Southern Cross University. Brendan's research focus is on aspects of national security law, particularly on the implications of national security risks on higher education research and teaching. He is also interested in the national security impacts of the law on topics such as privacy, identity crime and digital security. Brendan has completed a number of appointments in investigation and law enforcement roles across diverse government agencies over fifteen years, including the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Fair Work Building & Construction, the NSW and Queensland Offices of Liquor and Gaming, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Prior to joining Southern Cross, Brendan was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's Law and the Future of War Research Group. Brendan is admitted to practise law in the Supreme Court of Queensland and also holds an appointment as a Member to both the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal and the Disciplinary Panel of CPA Australia.

  

Professor Greg Austin is a co-founder of the Social Cyber Institute and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney. He has diverse international experience in cyber policy research and international security policy: Senior Fellow and head of the Program on Cyber Power and Future Conflict with the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and Professor of Cyber Security, Strategy and Diplomacy with the University of New South Wales Canberra. His academic career, including a Senior Visiting Fellowship in the Department of War Studies at Kings College London, has included thirteen books on international security, as author or editor, and leadership of several international research projects. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Australia China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. His service as a research leader for prominent global NGOs, such as the International Crisis Group and the EastWest Institute, has seen him work from Brussels and London with leading governments at Ministerial level (Russia, China, UK, India, United States, Turkey, Australia), major international organisations at leadership level (United Nations, International Atomic Energy Agency, R20 for Climate Action), and leading corporations (AT&T, BT, Perot Systems). He has consulted for the UK Cabinet Office, the UK Ministry of Defence, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the European Commission, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He began his career in Australian public service roles, including posts in Canberra and Hong Kong in defence intelligence, parliamentary committees, and ministerial staff.  Austin has a Ph D in international relations and a Master of International Law, both from the Australian National University.

 

Chaired by Professor Glenn Withers AO Emeritus Professor of Economics in the Crawford School of Public Policy. Glenn   was founding CEO of Universities Australia. Prior to that he was Professor of Public Policy at ANU and at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government. He is a Monash graduate and Harvard PhD, as a Menzies, Knox and Fulbright Scholar, and has held academic posts in Australia and overseas including at Harvard and Cambridge. He is a Fellow and Past President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and of the Australian Council of Learned Academies. He is Co-Founder and Director of the Social Cyber Institute, Director of Applied Economics P/L and Board Chair of Blended Learning International. He is also a Board member of Phenomics Australia.

​

​