Contested Ground

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, shadow minister for communications and federal member for Banks David Coleman joins host Liam Garman to discuss the recent misinformation bill that will leave free speech and political discourse in Australia.

• They begin the podcast with a recap of what’s in the bill, including how the government will determine what constitutes misinformation or disinformation.
• Coleman and Garman then unpack some unforeseen consequences of the bill, including how it may impact religious freedoms and genuine political discourse.
• The podcast wraps up discussing the government’s push to remove under-16s from social media.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson, Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman discuss the application of cyber and information in the modern threat environment, and how the White House is changing voting behaviours across the West.

They begin the podcast by unpacking Thomas Rid's Cyber War Will Not Take Place, discussing the intricacies of cyber operations and how cyber continues to adhere to the Clausewitzian principles describing the political and physical dimensions of conflict.

The conversation then moves across the cyber spectrum to information operations and how cyber is a carriage of information that can be used to destabilise populations.

MAJGEN (Ret'd) Dr Thompson and Tarrant unpack Australia’s response to global political uncertainty and the threat of tariffs, and how the White House administration is impacting elections across the globe.

The podcast wraps up looking at how democracies can use truth as a competitive advantage in the information space.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, host Liam Garman welcomes Cyber Daily’s David Hollingworth, a cyber security expert and Cyber Uncut podcast host, to unpack the latest in hacking and cyber security in the new era of grey-zone warfare and nation-state cyber attacks. They begin the podcast examining real world examples of warfare-motivated hacking, threat actors for hire, the impact of cyber threats and incidents for nations around the world.

They then discuss the differences between “smash-and-grab” ransomware attacks with persistent and embedded state-sponsored cyber attacks.

The podcast wraps up examining the increasing speed, accuracy and impact of cyber attacks on industry and government infrastructure across international lines.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Joe Hockey, former Australian ambassador to the United States, joins hosts Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson and Steve Kuper to discuss the continued importance of the Australia–US relationship.

• The trio begin by discussing the fallout of the latest presidential debate between contenders, former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, touching on the implications for the bilateral relationship.
• They also discuss the role of grey zone warfare and information warfare efforts in the upcoming election and how they may shape the outcome.
• Finally, they discuss the importance of the partnership in helping Australia reindustrialise and build a truly sovereign defence industrial base, with a pathway forward to establishing an integrated Australian prime.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Andrew Hastie MP, shadow minister for defence and shadow minister for defence industry, joins hosts Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman to discuss how Australia must develop sovereign capability amid growing geopolitical uncertainty.

• The trio begin the podcast discussing how Australia needs to support Defence SMEs to deliver sovereign capability amid rising political uncertainty before looking into additional uses of Australia’s special forces capabilities.
• The shadow minister then discusses how decision makers must clearly articulate the grey zone and kinetic risks that Australia faces, and outlines what some of his key objectives would be in government.
• The podcast wraps up discussing Ukraine’s continued fight for freedom.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team