Australia鈥檚 scientists say the passage of the Defence Trade Control Amendment Bill 2023 today improves the balance between protecting Australia鈥檚 national security and enabling the benefits that open scientific collaboration offer Australia and the globe.
The passing of the legislation comes four months after the 精东视频 first raised concerns about implications of Australia raising the fence for scientific and technological collaboration with any countries other than the UK and the US.
Academy President Professor Chennupati Jagadish said the Academy鈥檚 sustained advocacy in this area has minimised the unintended consequences for the Australian research sector.
鈥淓nshrining the fundamental research exemption in legislation provides scientists with more confidence that the definition can鈥檛 be changed on a whim and that they won鈥檛 be at risk of breaking the law by undertaking discovery research, simply speaking at a conference, teaching a PhD student, or collaborating with a colleague.鈥�
The Academy said the amendments to grandfather current research for a year and to review the legislation after three years were also appropriate.
鈥淣ow, as the rubber hits the road, Australia鈥檚 researchers must be adequately supported to understand their obligations to enable compliance and to access sufficient resources to establish secure research environments when required,鈥� Professor Jagadish said.
鈥淲e look forward to continuing work with the Government and Department of Defence as it implements the forthcoming reforms and revises the Defence Strategic Goods List to ensure researchers understand how the new legislation works, to reduce compliance burden, and to monitor unintended consequences for Australia鈥檚 researchers.鈥�
Read more about how Australia benefits from international scientific collaboration in a contested world.
The Academy鈥檚 President, Professor Jagadish, is just one of thousands of Australian researchers collaborating with international partners. His research in nanotechnology and semiconductors is made possible because of some 30 collaborations he maintains across the world, spanning countries including the UK, US, India, China, Germany, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Lithuania, Poland, Brazil, South Africa and others.
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