Discussion with ASPI director Justin Bassi

MERICS, in cooperation with the Australian Embassy in Berlin, hosted a discussion on building resilience in the face of economic coercion and foreign interference with Justin Bassi, Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), on Monday, 13 May, 12:00 – 13:00 CEST.

ASPI’s leading work has explored how policy-makers can work together to deter and respond to security threats such as China’s coercive diplomacy. Previously, Justin Bassi was National Security Adviser to then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with responsibility for all areas of security legislation, policy and operations, including counter terrorism, foreign interference, cyberspace, intelligence and border security. He has also served as Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister and National Security Adviser to the Attorney-General. Bassi has spent over two decades in the Australian Public Service, including in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and as Cyber Intelligence Mission Manager at the Office of National Intelligence, where he led the integration of cyber security and critical technologies across the National Intelligence Community.

In this confidential, closed door discussion, Bassi shared an Australian perspective on the impact of strategic competition on democracies, why security and economics are inseparable and how long-term sovereignty will depend on proactive cooperation between government, industry, academia and civil society.