iscover
Share this article on:
Powered by
MOMENTUM
MEDIA
Penny Wong and Antony J. Blinken announced a new MOU targeting “state information manipulation”.
Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, and the United States Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, have announced the signing of a new memorandum of understanding.
The pair announced overnight in Washington that they would be signing a memorandum of understanding on combating state information manipulation ahead of upcoming AUSMIN discussions.
“This is basically a partnership to work together even more effectively on combating misinformation and disinformation,” Secretary of State Blinken said at a 5 August joint press conference.
“We know that around the world, we are in an environment in which misinformation, disinformation is unfortunately a tool of choice for countries that are in adversarial relationships with both of our countries.”
Blinken added that Australia is the 20th nation to sign such an agreement with the US.
“We have agreements with European partners, African partners, in East Asia, in other places, all of whom have endorsed this framework – and it allows us to work together to identify misinformation and disinformation, and then to take effective steps together to combat it – sharing best practices, sharing other tools that we’ve developed; building greater resilience in our civil society, our institutions; strengthening information integrity across the entire digital ecosystem,” Blinken said.
“Through this MOU, the United States and Australia intend to expand information sharing and pursue complementary approaches to this threat across the Indo-Pacific.”
Foreign Minister Wong joined her colleague in welcoming the MOU.
“In relation to the foreign interference, I’d make this point – we’re democracies and we understand that part of what we do together in the world is to protect our political systems, our political traditions, our values,” Wong said.
“And that requires us to stand together against many risks and threats and challenges, and one of those is foreign interference.”
Speaking on ABC News Breakfast this morning, US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy also praised the signing of the MOU.
“It definitely is,” ambassador Kennedy said when asked if disinformation was a growing problem, “and that’s why it’s so important for countries – more than 20 countries have signed up to this framework – that we will be able to provide trustworthy information to countries in the region.
“I think it’s a great step for our democracy to be working together.”
Wong and Blinken also announced that Australia would be joining the United States’ Landsat Next 2030 International Partnership Initiative as a “founding partner”.
“Australia is particularly well positioned to play a critical role in this, a central role, in Landsat Next success, providing critical ground station infrastructure, personnel, services, and science, all in support of a critical mission,” Blinken said.
“This is for us both, I think, a great example of how the United States and Australia are building together an innovation alliance, as the Prime Minister and President set it forward, and tackling climate change and doing it together.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the cyber industry.
