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Defence & Security Podcast Network — Government
Defence & Security Podcast Network

The Defence & Security Podcast Network hosts a unique series of podcasts, featuring discussions with key enablers from across the Australian defence and security industry.

The podcasts provide the perfect blend of business intelligence and insights from a range of guests, which include government officials, ADF personnel, industry stakeholders, and members of the academic community.

By aligning ourselves with the ADF and the Commonwealth government, we are uniquely placed to deliver a dynamic 360° platform that bridges the gap between the customer (Defence) and industry.

We split our focus not just into the traditional sectors of Land (Army), Air (Air Force) and Sea (Navy), but into the six new Capability Streams:

– Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare and Cyber
– Key Enablers
– Air and Sea Lift
– Maritime and Anti-Submarine Warfare
– Strike and Air Combat
– Land Combat and Amphibious Warfare

As Defence moves to ensure the Force Structure Review and the First Principles Review: Creating One Defence plans are met, Australian industry involvement is critical for mission success.

The Defence & Security Podcast Network will provide you and your business with valuable lessons, tips and insights into the industry, putting your company in the best position to take part in the increased Defence spending.

We’ll cover every aspect of doing business in the defence industry, from the tender process to recruitment, success stories, access points to Defence, smart business strategies, and geopolitical insights.

Subscribe to the Defence & Security Podcast Network and be part of this exciting and innovative industry.

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Latest Episodes:

CONTESTED GROUND: AUKUS, deterrence, and the deepening Australia–UK strategic partnership Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

Australia and the United Kingdom share one of the world's deepest strategic relationships – but in an increasingly contested geopolitical environment, that partnership is taking on new significance. In this episode of Contested Ground, Phillip Tarrant and Major General (Ret'd) Dr Marcus Thompson are joined by acting British high commissioner to Australia Dr Brian Jones to unpack the future of AUKUS, the UK's growing Indo-Pacific focus, and the security challenges binding the two nations more closely together.

They also explore the enormous industrial opportunity behind AUKUS, the role Australian businesses and technology can play in UK and allied defence supply chains, and why economic, technological, and national security cooperation is becoming increasingly inseparable.

It's a wide-ranging discussion on deterrence, defence industry, sovereign capability, and the enduring trust underpinning the Australia–UK relationship. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

SPOTLIGHT: Unlocking Australia's Defence estate through divestment, with Stantec Australia Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

Australia's plan to divest 68 surplus Defence sites presents an opportunity to reduce estate costs while creating new housing, industrial, community, and environmental outcomes, according to Stantec Australia's Tony Rogers, Leigh McDonald, and Nick Glasson.

The Defence estate spans around 3.5 million hectares, with the government identifying sites that are underutilised or surplus to future Defence requirements.

The divestment program is not simply about raising money through land sales. Instead, it is intended to reduce the cost of maintaining an ageing and increasingly complex estate, while consolidating Defence functions into more suitable and modern facilities.

However, each site presents different challenges, including contamination, PFAS, unexploded ordnance, heritage protections, environmental constraints, infrastructure requirements, and planning considerations.

The future use of each site will therefore need to reflect its local context. Potential outcomes could include housing, commercial, and industrial development, community infrastructure, environmental restoration, or continued use for the defence industry.

Early engagement between Defence, government, industry, developers, and local communities will be critical to identifying viable outcomes and ensuring remediation and infrastructure requirements align with the eventual use of each site.

Ultimately, a successful transition will not simply be measured by the highest sale price, but by whether former Defence land can deliver sustainable long-term value while protecting Defence capability, managing environmental and heritage risks, and contributing to surrounding communities.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect Spotlight team

CONTESTED GROUND: Is Australia ready to secure its place in an increasingly contested space domain? Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

Phil Tarrant is joined by Space Industry Association of Australia CEO Dan Lloyd and chairman Darin Lovett to examine Australia's growing dependence on space and the strategic implications of an increasingly contested space domain. They unpack the critical role space plays across Australia's economy and national security, from positioning, navigation and timing, and communications to defence, transport, energy, agriculture, and emergency services.

Does Australia have the strategy, investment, and risk appetite needed to turn its space ambitions into a practical national capability?

CYBER UNCUT: AI transforms physical security from cost centre to business enabler Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

Genetec's Lee Shelford says AI and cloud are giving security teams faster investigations while turning physical security systems into tools for broader business operations. Organisations should stop treating AI as a box-ticking exercise and focus on where it can deliver measurable operational gains, according to Genetec's Lee Shelford.

Speaking on the Cyber Uncut podcast with David Hollingworth, Shelford says AI-powered video analytics can cut investigations from hours to minutes, allowing operators to find people, vehicles, objects, and behaviours using natural-language searches and respond while incidents are still unfolding.

Shelford urges organisations to look beyond traditional surveillance, with Genetec combining video, access control, vehicle recognition, communications, and IoT data through a single interface. The technology can also support use cases beyond security, including bushfire detection, remote monitoring, car park management, and improving the movement of people and vehicles through airports and shopping centres.

According to Shelford, remote management can eliminate the need for onsite upgrades and configuration, while AI can reduce the manual tuning previously required as conditions change. But cyber security must remain central, with Genetec having pursued Australian requirements, including IRAP assessment and Essential Eight alignment. Enjoy, The Cyber Uncut team

THE PROGRESS REPORT: Building the future – Viviene Beins on aerospace engineering, women, and Australia's defence industry Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

Breaking barriers and building the skills needed to shape the future of Australia's aerospace and defence industries. RMIT University aerospace engineering and logistics supply chain student Viviene Beins shares her experience competing in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Design/Build/Fly competition in the US, where she helped lead the composite manufacturing of an aircraft and has now taken on a co-lead role for the next 2026–27 team.

In this episode of The Progress Report, news editor Robert Dougherty sits down with Beins to discuss her journey into aerospace engineering, the challenges women face in entering traditionally male-dominated fields, and the importance of mentorship, perseverance, and strong female leadership.

The pair also explore the subtle barriers women can face in university and engineering environments, factors often overlooked that can discourage women from pursuing careers in STEM.

Beyond gender diversity, Beines reflects on what the Australian aerospace and defence industry can do to attract and retain the next generation of engineers, including providing opportunities for career mobility, skills development, and exposure to cutting-edge programs such as the Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aircraft program.

The Progress Report. New voices. Real stories. Big shifts.

Enjoy the podcast, The Progress Report team

Australian defence industry faces a changing strategic landscape, with Phillip Tarrant and Robert Dougherty Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

Defence Connect relaunches our podcast with co-host Phil Tarrant, joined by news editor Robert Dougherty, to discuss the latest developments shaping Australia's defence industry. The pair discuss defence spending, AUKUS, sovereign capability, emerging technologies, and the growing strategic importance of Western Australia.

The podcast conversation includes the following topics:

Australia's defence spending trajectory and the importance of export opportunities.
AUKUS and opportunities for Australian companies across the trilateral supply chain.
The strategic significance of Western Australia and its growing defence infrastructure.
The People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and the evolving regional security environment.
Austal and the importance of maintaining sovereign shipbuilding capability.
New missile and air-defence capabilities, including JASSM-ER, LRASM, and NASAMS.
The rise of drones, autonomy and new approaches to defence innovation.
Project AIR 6500 and the development of a more integrated battlefield network.
The potential role of deployable microreactors for military and space applications.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

CONTESTED GROUND: Is Australia slowly regulating away its own prosperity – and, with it, its national resilience? Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Phil Tarrant and Major General (Ret'd) Dr Marcus Thompson examine the growing debate over Australia's economic direction, drawing on Chris Uhlmann's recent article in The Australian on the "Argentinisation" of Australia. They unpack the risks posed by weak productivity, rising regulation, higher costs, and falling investment – and ask what sustained economic underperformance could mean for housing, business confidence, and the nation's broader strategic strength. Because if Australia enters an increasingly contested world from a position of economic weakness, its ability to fund defence, build sovereign capability, and protect its national interests becomes a much bigger question.

SPOTLIGHT: Building an integrated ADF through cloud and emerging technology, with Jonathon Beesley and Richard Campbell Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

Australia's emerging defence technology priorities will only deliver their full potential if they are integrated into a broader operational framework connecting platforms, people, data and decision making, according to Microsoft global defence and intelligence solutions manager Jonathon Beesley and Atturra defence lead Richard Campbell, chief executive officer of SME Gateway. The 2026 Defence Innovation, Science and Technology Strategy identifies long-range fires and hypersonics, high-energy lasers, autonomous systems, quantum, artificial intelligence and undersea warfare as key priorities.

But translating these capabilities into an integrated force will require Defence to look beyond individual platforms and focus on the architecture connecting sensors, command nodes, decision makers and shooters.

Cloud technology can provide the backbone for this integration, enabling Defence to process the growing volume, variety and velocity of data reaching commanders and personnel at the tactical edge.

AI and autonomous systems can then help fuse that information and provide decision advantage, but humans must remain responsible for critical decisions. Building trust in these systems will be essential, particularly as Defence operates increasingly complex joint and coalition missions.

Australia also cannot be self-reliant in every capability. Instead, it must identify where sovereign control is essential while maintaining secure interoperability with trusted allies.

The experience of Ukraine has demonstrated the value of rapidly adopting and adapting technology, highlighting the importance of a defence culture capable of learning at pace.

For Australia, the next advantage may therefore be a learning advantage; ensuring Defence and industry can understand, adopt and adapt emerging technologies quickly enough to meet the strategic challenges ahead.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect Spotlight team

Australia's defence procurement is narrowing and becoming less resilient, with 127 East Advisory's Colin Storey Sep 11, 2026

Show notes

Australia's defence industry faces a period of growing consolidation and uncertainty, how is past procurement impacting national security of the future? Speaking with Defence Connect news editor Robert Dougherty, 127 East Advisory director Colin Storey, a former head of growth at Raytheon and Royal Australian Navy patrol boat navigator, discusses his analysis of major defence contracts awarded over the past decade and what the data reveals about Australia's defence industrial base.

Storey's analysis of 373 contracts found more than 27 per cent went directly through foreign military sales, while more than half of the remaining contracts went to foreign-owned companies operating in Australia.

Of the Australian-owned businesses receiving major contracts, much of the spending was concentrated in areas such as infrastructure, facilities and fuel, with Austal emerging as the only Australian-owned defence specialist among the top 20 recipients.

The pair also discuss the gradual offshore consolidation of Australia's defence industry, with major international primes acquiring at least 16 Australian companies over the past four decades.

Combined with the growing cost of major programs and the funding demands of AUKUS, Storey warns this approach could place further pressure on established defence companies, with some potentially reconsidering their long-term presence in Australia.

The pair examine how countries including Sweden, Norway, Finland and Israel have developed successful defence companies by aligning procurement with national priorities, supporting specialised sovereign capabilities and helping domestic firms access export markets.

Looking towards the next decade, Storey expects further consolidation across the Australian defence industry, alongside increased mergers and acquisitions as companies compete for a smaller number of major programs. Australia risks developing a narrower and less resilient defence industrial base unless procurement, sovereign capability and export policy are more closely aligned with the nation's long-term defence strategy, he warns.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

Australia's UGV dilemma and why land autonomy remains stuck in the mud, with Stephen Bornstein Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Australia's push to develop autonomous ground systems has delivered promising prototypes and live-fire demonstrations, but land-based autonomy remains outside the Australian Defence Force's current priorities. Speaking with news editor Robert Dougherty, Sightline Intelligence managing director Stephen Bornstein discusses the challenges facing Australia's emerging uncrewed ground vehicles sector and the growing importance of low-cost autonomous systems.

Cyborg Dynamics Engineering's Warfighter UGV progressed from a Queensland-developed platform into a military system, including live-fire Javelin and minigun trials in 2023. However, Bornstein says industry was already aware that land autonomy was being deprioritised ahead of the Defence Strategic Review.

By late 2023, Cyborg had pivoted towards firefighting and research applications, using those markets to continue developing the underlying technology.

Bornstein argues that while UGVs continue to appear at exercises and innovation programs, current funding remains largely experimental rather than sufficient to deliver a major land capability.

The pair also discuss Athena AI's integration into Sightline Intelligence and its subsequent acquisition by Acron Technologies; the company gained access to US opportunities that would have been difficult for an Australian-only business to pursue.

Looking towards Land Forces, Bornstein expects continued growth in lower-cost, disposable and attritable UGVs, alongside AI-enabled systems incorporating computer vision, terminal guidance and aided target recognition.

For Australia's defence industry, the challenge remains turning promising autonomous technologies from experimental projects into scalable, operational capabilities.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

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