28 October 2025
Thank you very much. I want to congratulate Keio University, which has a long history of making Japan stronger through global engagement in many areas, including now in cyber security. A secure and successful Japan is actually fundamental to a successful Asia and a successful world. So, of course, we share cyber risks and we have lots of opportunity through secure connection digitally in the modern economy. Japan is now a linchpin in broader cybersecurity networks. From an Australian national interest point of view, we don't just want to congratulate Japan for all of any changes and improvements and reforms this year. We want to commit to work with you to implement and strengthen your system, because through that, your system strengthens, and ours will become stronger, as well.
Australia has a cybersecurity strategy, like many other countries. Our aim is to be the most cyber secure nation in the world by 2030. We focus on businesses and citizens, safe technology, world class threat sharing with our partners, and between government and the private sector. We are about protecting critical infrastructure, building sovereign cyber capabilities, and providing global leadership in cyber resilience, working with countries like Japan and many of the others here represented.
We know it's a borderless threat. We know it's fast moving and transnational, and we know as we build a more productive, innovative global economy underpinned by digital infrastructure, there are plenty of people looking to undermine trust, to provide disruption, and destabilisation. Some of these are state actors, some of these are non-state actors. The prevalence of AI shows that at the larger scale and a faster rate, our cybersecurity is going to be challenged. As fast as the threat grows, so wide is its application, so fast moving is the broader sector that we know that no one country can tackle this alone.
Cybersecurity has become a priority in Australia's foreign and security policy. Central to building trust, stability and resilience across the globe, certainly, as my British colleague just said, not just a niche concern. We work closely, in particular, with Japan, in Southeast Asia, and the Pacific, and of course, with five eyes and other partners to uphold a secure, stable and open cyberspace. There are many things we can do together, for example, joint cyber security advisories, provide guidance to promote international standards, attribute malicious activity, and encourage industry to act. For example, in August 2025, the Salt Typhoon Advisory with Japan and with other partners signalled our commitment to calling out malicious cyber activity, raising awareness more broadly about how to defend against it.
Across our agenda in security, Japan is a trusted and capable partner. Japan's leadership is valued across Asia and across the world. And as you strengthen your cyber posture through new legislation, it's more important than ever that Japan collaborates with its partners to share insights, coordinate responses, and build regional resilience together. Cybersecurity, like a lot of other aspects of our wider security effort has to be a whole of nation effort. If we're protecting infrastructure, safeguarding data and maintaining investor confidence, this can't just be a matter for experts in government and in universities. It's got to be embedded across society. Cyber crime, of course, is a top tier risk affecting Australian businesses, costing billions annually. It's the same in Japan, it's the same in many other countries.
The Asahi group cyber attack will get a few mentions today. It's just one salient example. It's certainly not the peak of the risk we face. It's probably a harbinger of more things to come. Time to act, time to work together, time to take responsibility. In Australia, our belief is that public private partnership in this area is essential. It's not optional. We have to share intelligence and information with industry, and we have to respond with industry in partnership, in real time.
Australia's cybersecurity minister Tony Burke has spoken publicly last month about the need to move beyond just technical expertise, but to build a culture of cybersecurity, not just to have a digital firewall, but to provide a human firewall. That's required to keep us safe, where citizens, individuals, officers in universities and businesses take responsibility for their own cyber security. Japan, we know, is moving in a similar direction. Japan's cyber threat information sharing council for one, is going to bring government and industry together, to share data, coordinate responses, and build national resilience. It's a powerful opportunity for Japan to work with Australia and others, government to government, industry to industry, to strengthen our various nations defences.
The key to the future in many ways is secure connectivity, the key to Japan's security lies in part in cyber security, and the key for Australia's security lies in a much closer and deeper security partnership with Japan in many areas, including in the cyber domain. I wish you all the success for this conference, not just in the discussions you have yourselves, but in pushing out across society greater awareness of the challenge and recognitions of the efforts being made to tackle it.
Thank you very much.