Critical minerals shift from extraction to processing
'Graphinex's Esmeralda Project is a clear example of Australia moving up the value chain,' says managing director Art Malone. 'Our demonstration facility in Townsville produces material that exceeds battery anode specifications, and we are scaling toward full commercial production.'
That kind of capability matters because graphite is not just another mineral. It makes up more than 90 per cent of the anode in lithium-ion batteries. As electric vehicle and storage demand grows, graphite has emerged as a strategic chokepoint – and China controls more than 98 per cent of its global refining capacity.
'Natural graphite is now officially classified as a critical mineral in all jurisdictions like the US, EU, Japan, and Australia,' Malone says. 'Yet over 98 per cent of anode material is currently processed in China. That creates a vulnerability in global supply chains and a massive opportunity for Australia to step in with secure, ESG-compliant alternatives.'
Geopolitical reality
According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's Enabling North American Graphite Growth report, China's dominance of graphite refining represents a fundamental strategic risk. In 2023, China supplied 72 per cent of the world's graphite and 92 per cent of the high-purity anode material used in lithium-ion batteries. By 2028, Benchmark projects China will still supply 65 per cent of global graphite and 86 per cent of anode material.
The report notes that 'barring concerted action,' China will continue to control the market. That dominance extends across both natural graphite – mined and refined and synthetic graphite, manufactured from petroleum feedstocks.
The report frames this not just as a trade or investment problem but a national security issue. 'Lithium-ion batteries are a critical component of many emerging advanced technologies, including many with national security applications,' it says. In that context, securing reliable, non-China graphite supply is not optional, it's strategic.
Australia's industrial policy is catching up to this geopolitical reality. With the federal Critical Minerals Strategy, Queensland's Critical Minerals Fund, and agencies like NAIF and the Office of the Co-ordinator General behind early-stage projects, the conditions for downstream investment have improved. 'Policy support has improved and needs to move fast and coordinated,' Malone says. 'This is something the Queensland government does well.'
The Townsville demonstration facility is a product of that convergence – a project that has secured institutional backing from Japan's Idemitsu and Indonesia's Baramulti, along with funding from government sources. The site produces qualification-scale batches of active anode material (AAM) for testing by tier-one battery manufacturers.
'We're seeing strong strategic interest from downstream battery and auto manufacturers, particularly in the US, South Korea, Japan, and Europe,' Malone says. 'Governments are now offering financial incentives and trade policy support for non-China supply chains. Our engagement with US, Japan and Australian government agencies reinforces the geopolitical importance of what we're building.'
High purity graphite
Demonstration facilities are often seen as proof-of-concept. But in this case, the technical data is already drawing attention. Independent testing shows the material has a discharge capacity of 381.4 mAh/g, compared to an industry standard of around 355, and purity levels of 99.99 per cent – placing it in the premium performance category.
The firm has already completed its pre-feasibility study and has now commenced a bankable feasibility study, along with permitting and financing discussions. Construction of its full-scale facility is expected to begin within 18 months.
'Financing will combine private capital, strategic investors, and government backed debt,' Malone says. 'Strong interest is already being shown by our global partners.'
The economic potential extends well beyond graphite. Australia's broader ambition is to become a trusted hub for critical mineral processing across the battery value chain – spanning not just graphite, but lithium, nickel, and rare earths. 'Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be more than a quarry,' Malone says. 'We can become a trusted midstream hub for critical battery materials.'
In that vision, projects like the Townsville facility are a test case – not just for commercial success, but for whether Australia can turn strategic ambition into industrial capability.
More than digging and shipping
Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Dale Last says the plant means that the nation is well positioned to not only meet the strong global demand for critical minerals but also add value to the supply chain through additional processing.
'Queensland's mineral deposits are world-class, and we're proud to be a mining state. We want to see projects that go further than the 'dig it and ship it' approach,' says Last.
He says the state government is investing in midstream capabilities to support critical mineral extraction and processing for our key critical mineral commodities including graphite, vanadium, and other materials.
'We've made it our mission to connect international investors with Queensland innovation, backed by the work of the resources cabinet committee to streamline approvals and get more projects off the ground,' says Last.
'We're pulling every lever to accelerate new developments, reduce approval timeframes and give industry the confidence to plan and invest.
Graphinex's battery anode production facility in Townsville and planned Esmeralda mine is proof that the government's strategy is working, delivering real opportunities for regional Queensland and positioning the state as a global leader in battery materials, he says.
If the race to electrification is also a race for industrial capability, then the work underway in northern Queensland may prove decisive. Not because it's flashy, but because it quietly answers the question: can Australia do more than dig? And this time, it's looking like the answer is yes for Graphinex.
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ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
How China became a green energy superpower
Sam Hawley: In April, China installed more solar power than Australia has throughout history in just that month. China is also now home to half of the world's wind power and half of the world's electric cars. So how has the Communist Party managed to electrify the nation so quickly? Today, climate reporter Jo Lorder on why China is becoming the world's first electro-state. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal Land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal Land in Sydney. Jo, for a long time, if you mentioned Beijing, your mind would just go to pollution. It was one of the most polluted cities in the world, wasn't it? Jo Lauder: Yeah, it was really, really bad. So often there was this really, really thick smog and it was becoming a health crisis, it was becoming a bit of a political crisis. News report: Toxic Beijing is back. Severe air pollution is again being recorded here. It's extremely severe. There are a lot of people coughing and not in good health. Jo Lauder: In 2013, on average, there was just over 101 micrograms of PM2.5 particles. What the World Health Organisation kind of recognises as, like, you know, healthy, it shouldn't exceed five micrograms. So really, really bad. And this happened because this was after years of really heavy industrial emissions and pretty quick industrialisation in China. It really became the world's factory. You know, countries like Australia, we ended up offshoring a lot of our manufacturing. These factories are really, really energy intensive. So there's burning lots of coal to be able to produce all these products to sell to the world. So China was modernising its economy really quickly in this period, having huge economic growth, but pulling people out of poverty. But it's also causing these really, really significant environmental issues in terms of air pollution, environmental degradation and pollution. And it was becoming a really big problem. Sam Hawley: Yeah, so it's developing really, really quickly. And at the same time, greenhouse gas emissions are going through the roof, I presume. Jo Lauder: Yeah. So around this period after this massive industrialisation is where we see China becoming one of the largest and then the largest polluter in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. So in 2006, China overtook the US as the world's biggest emitter. Historically, though, the US is still responsible for more emissions than China, but China makes up now about a third of global emissions. It does have a really big population. So interestingly, per capita, Australia, the US per capita still has higher emissions, but China, it's a really big player. Like it's a third of global emissions. So this is kind of an issue for everybody, not just China. Sam Hawley: All right. Well, the Communist Party, Jo, then came to a point where it really needed and wanted to do something about this pollution crisis it had found itself in. So that's when it tried to turn things around. Just tell me about that. Jo Lauder: Yeah. So about a decade ago, it introduced a plan called Made in China 2025. And so this was a 10-year plan and it was really outlining how China was going to reshape its manufacturing capability. It wanted to stop just making kind of cheap, low-quality stuff to send to the world, focus on more high-end products. And really, they were interested in the ones that are going to address climate change. They could see that this is a huge economic opportunity. The world is going to be wanting these products. They'll be able to sell them for more. And so China began to invest in all the components, all the different parts for renewables, really, especially around wind and solar, electric cars, and then batteries as well, because if you're making the cars, you make the batteries. And so then that's household batteries, energy storage. And so the superpower really put its economic might, its willpower behind renewable technologies. And this is phenomenal because this is really accelerating the end of the fossil fuel era. And it's bringing about what people are calling the age of the electro state. Sam Hawley: Interesting. All right. So just to explain that further, though, this wasn't so much about cutting greenhouse gas emissions for China. It was actually just trying to get rid of this smog, this pollution that was becoming a huge problem for the population. Jo Lauder: Yeah, it's interesting because climate is always a factor in this, and China was concerned about it. But it wasn't really the number one thing going on here. It was, as you said, it was this smog and this pollution crisis in the cities. They wanted to lean into green technology as well because they saw this economic opportunity to sell this to the rest of the world and get ahead of everyone else. The other reason as well is energy security. One of the reasons China really has pivoted to electrification is because they're quite dependent on imported fossil fuels. It's the world's biggest oil importer. And China has lots and lots of coal. That's why in that period of rapid industrialisation they really heavily relied on coal. But they don't have much gas. They don't really have much oil. And they really see this as a weakness. So they saw electrification as an opportunity to get off that dependence. Sam Hawley: All right. Okay, so, Jo, now, today, China has become a global powerhouse in renewable energy. So let's step through that. How has it electrified and become a so-called electro state? Jo Lauder: Yes, Sam, it's pretty phenomenal. So, you know, we hear a lot about targets in Australia and our 2030 renewables targets. China just hit its target six years early. So it is just streaking ahead. In April this year, China installed more solar power than Australia has in all of its history in just one month. That's what it's doing. And it is, you know, month after month it is doing this. And Australia is not even bad at solar either. Like, we have the highest per capita uptake of rooftop solar. We're a pretty sunny country. We're doing all right. But that just shows, like, China is just miles ahead. It's got half of the world's solar, half of the world's wind power, half of the world's electric cars, all in China. And there's more to come as well. Like, China has nearly twice the amount of wind and solar capacity under construction in 2024 as the rest of the world combined. So this is going to keep continuing. And the other one as well is EVs. They've been this huge driver of electrification. Half of electric cars all around the world are in China. And so these â€' and this is going to keep continuing. EV sales are really, really significant there. And so these things are all bringing about this structural change in China. Sam Hawley: And the reason, I guess, China is moving so quickly, Jo, is because the government, the Communist Party, is really investing a lot of money in this, isn't it? Jo Lauder: Yeah, they really put the whole state behind this. They put huge government subsidies and support behind it. The International Energy Agency found that last year China's clean energy investments were worth more than $625 billion US. That's double from when they started this project. So it's really significant. And Sam Hawley: it's also helping China's economic growth, right? Because it's actually exporting this clean tech too. Jo Lauder: Yeah, so this is the thing. They're exporting it. They're also implementing it themselves in China to deal with these issues. And this is a huge economic opportunity. They're not just doing this out of, like, goodwill and concern. You would notice most days now you see more and more Chinese-made electric cars on the road in Australia. A lot of our solar panels are made in China. And that's also bringing costs down for everybody around the world. And this is really important because the transition won't happen if it's too expensive, especially for countries in the global south. Like, it has to be cheap. And so China is really bringing that about for everybody. And this is going to have a global impact on emissions. So last year alone, there were some studies done, and it found that China's clean energy exports just from last year have shaved off 1% of global emissions outside of China. And they will keep doing that. They'll take 1% off every year for the next 30 years. And so that's just going to keep happening, is that this year there'll be more as well. So it's having a really big impact. Sam Hawley: Yeah, it's amazing. But there is a flip side to this. Jo Lauder: There is a but. Sam Hawley: There is a but because China's also building dirty coal-fired power stations still. Jo Lauder: Yeah, I know. This is the dissonance. And it's really interesting because China is often talked about. You know, people are like, it's doing great. And everyone's like, yeah, but it's also still the highest emitter and it's building all these coal-fired power stations. And so what's happened is, as China has had this massive kind of push of this new industrialisation around the Made in China plan, that takes a lot of energy as well to run those factories. And it's also got a growing middle class. This has meant that there's just more and more power demand. And so what's been happening is there's this kind of race that's going on as China has more energy demand every year, but then they're building more renewables. And it's just been up until now the demand has kind of been outstripping renewables. But it looks like that might be changing. But in the meantime, they have been building more coal-fired power stations. But what we're seeing is they're starting to use them less, which is interesting. Sam Hawley: Yeah. Okay. So are China's emissions actually coming down? Maybe. Right. Jo Lauder: Potentially. So as we said, China is still the world's biggest emitter, but there has been some interesting analysis. Carbon Brief is one of the groups that are doing some analysis around this. And they found that emissions dropped in the first quarter of 2025 for China by 1.6%. And it doesn't sound like much, but that's actually pretty significant. And there's some other modelling done. People are saying that it looks like the emissions might have peaked. And because they are adding more and more renewables all the time, there's this structural kind of change that is happening that emissions will start coming down. And this is really significant for the whole world because, as we said, they make up a third of the world's emissions. The other thing as well is, as we're talking about more and more EVs, China's crude oil imports have been falling. They fell for the first time in two decades. They're expected to hit peak oil in 2027, which is earlier than what was expected. So we are seeing all these positive signs happening. So people are optimistic that their emissions are going to start coming down. Sam Hawley: All right, so Joe, China is clearly pulling off this massive transition. Do you think that should be a blueprint for the rest of the world, so we could all transition to become an electro-state? Jo Lauder: It's interesting because this is obviously easier for China to make these changes. They are an authoritarian regime. They've been putting huge government subsidies into this. And so a lot of these parts of electrification have been easier for China to accomplish. It's also got massive scale. Like, China is a huge country. It's a huge economy. It means as well that they have this really fast learning curve. So they can really quickly improve and bring down costs. And that's what we're seeing. But I think that what it shows is that this transition can potentially happen extremely quickly if the resources are put into it. And it also shows all the other co-benefits. That's what I find really interesting as well. Like we said, you know, energy security, air pollution, like economic benefits. These are the other things that are happening as well that we tend to just focus on the climate side a lot of the time. But there's heaps of other things going on as well. Sam Hawley: How long do you reckon, Jo, then, until Australia could be an electro-state? We're a little slower, of course. Jo Lauder: Yeah, but the economics have fundamentally changed. And I think China's electrification, as we've been saying, is really making the whole world start moving away from petro products. In Australia, you know, the political realities are a bit more difficult. It's going to be happening slower. It's happening... It's a bit messier. But I think these changes are still happening. And then the other impact for Australia that I think is really interesting as well is what happens when these other countries electrify, that China is selling products to. They'll no longer need Australia's coal and gas. And, you know, from what we've seen in China, this could happen faster than we realise. So this is happening around the world. It's just a question of the speed in different countries. Sam Hawley: Jo Lauder is a climate reporter at the ABC. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Sam Dunn and Cinnamon Nippard. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.
SBS Australia
a day ago
- SBS Australia
Shirley always wanted to run a clothing factory. She says this Australian fashion giant killed her dream
Following the collapse of Australian fashion retailer Mosaic Brands, and its much-loved labels such as Katies and Noni B, Dateline meets the suppliers who say they lost nearly everything. Watch Part Two of the two-part investigation, The Cost of Doing Business, on Tuesday 19 August at 9.30pm on SBS or live on SBS On Demand . Watch Part One now on SBS On Demand . The Cost Of Doing Business: Part 1 Shirley Lu had always adored fashion and dreamed of one day running her own factory in Shenzen, China. When she had the chance to work with Australian retail giant Mosaic Brands, she was thrilled. Mosaic owned 10 labels including Rivers, Katies, Noni B and Millers after a period of expansion between 2014 and 2018. By 2019, the company had 1,400 stores, employed 7,000 people and worked with hundreds of suppliers in Australia and overseas. "I thought Mosaic was a very famous company in Australia," she told Dateline. However in September 2023, her first invoice went unpaid. "I saw my shoes for sale on Rivers' official website but when my payment was due, no one got back to me … From September through October, I contacted them every single day by phone and email. But no one answered me." By March 2024, she says she received US$40,000 (around $62,000) after being put on a payment plan by Mosaic, but it wasn't enough to cover her expenses. "They took my goods but refused to pay. I was so miserable and broken, because I had to pay for the workers' wages." Fashion supplier Shirley Lu was initially excited to work with an Australian company the size of Mosaic Brands. Source: SBS Shirley borrowed money from her sister to cover some of her costs, but her sister was later diagnosed with breast cancer and needed the money back. "I told them, I need this money for my loved ones to survive … but they didn't reply." "We all felt that our world had come crashing down." Mosaic Brands in financial trouble The company had been reporting mostly modest profits to the ASX and in 2022, CEO Scott Evans took home a salary package of over $2 million. Noni B stores across Australia have closed down after the label's owner Mosaic Brands went into administration in October 2024. Insolvent trading is when a company is unable to pay existing debts while taking on new ones. It is illegal in Australia because of the harm it can inflict on unsuspecting businesses. However, Mosaic was using a legal protection called 'safe harbour', which enables a company to keep trading while its directors take steps to rescue the business. In recent years, the retail climate in Australia has been hit by a perfect storm of COVID-19, cost of living pressures and the rise of online shopping. This year alone, 800 Australian retailers have gone bust. According to the report to creditors, Mosaic used safe harbour protection on and off for a period of four and half years. While in safe harbour, a publicly-listed company doesn't have to disclose their insolvency to shareholders or suppliers. 'A kind of blackmail' Harry Wang also says he didn't know that Mosaic Brands was in financial trouble. He first began making shoes for Rivers from his factory in Xiamen, China, back in 2012. He says when Mosaic acquired the Australian brand in 2018, things changed. But he says it wasn't until 2022 that he stopped getting paid on time for the goods he supplied. Harry Wang says Mosaic Brands now owes him US$6.2 million (around $9.5 million). Source: SBS Harry says he felt pressured to continue to supply goods or he would face loss of sales claims or non-payment for the goods he had already supplied. "We have no choice. We'd be pushed to deliver the goods. Otherwise, we really don't have any payment … So we have to keep on supplying them," he told Dateline. "That's a trick for all the suppliers … a kind of blackmail." Harry says he was also issued with US$4.5 million (around $6.9 million) worth of loss of sales claims due to reported delivery delays or faulty goods from 2022 to 2024. Harry settled these claims at the time with Mosaic, but alleges they were excessive. He says Mosaic Brands now owes him US$6.2 million (around $9.5 million): US$4.2 million (around $6.5 million) in unpaid invoices accrued between 2022 and 2024, and US$2 million (around $3 million) in stock that he's already made, including 80,000 pairs of shoes stocked in his warehouse that may never be delivered. Harry's office staff has been reduced from 15 to four, while one of the factories he works with is in 'a state of shutdown'. Harry says the stress has placed a huge strain on his marriage and family life. "This is a very, very big lesson for all the Chinese suppliers … Don't trust anybody. That's the lesson we got," he says. "All of our wealth, after all our hard work, was suddenly wiped out by them. "I'm so sad." This is a very, very big lesson for all the Chinese suppliers … Don't trust anybody. Harry Wang Mosaic 'deeply disappointed and upset' When Mosaic entered administration in October 2024, its 10 labels and then-650 stores closed for good. Among the company's losses, Mosaic owed an estimated $US50 million (around $77 million) to suppliers in China, according to the Mosaic Brand creditor list from 8 November. Suppliers in China, Bangladesh and Australia are coming together to demand answers and call for a public inquiry into the actions of Mosaic Brands. Former Mosaic Brands CEO Scott Evans declined Dateline's request for an interview and did not provide any detailed answers to questions we put to him. Through his lawyers, he said: "Given the current circumstances of the company it is difficult ... to provide substantive comments." "Based on some of the questions and propositions that have been put to me, there seems to be material misinformation about the company, which I believe will be clarified in the fullness of time." Scott Evans when he was CEO of Noni B in 2014. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins He added that during his 10 years as CEO he "had the privilege of working alongside literally thousands of hardworking team members ...and suppliers". And that he was "deeply disappointed and upset to see Mosaic Brands enter administration". No adverse findings have been laid against any Mosaic Brands directors. 'More likely to get bitten by a shark' As the Mosaic Brands administration process unfolds, Professor Jason Harris, an insolvency expert at The University of Sydney Law School, warns that suppliers are unlikely to get any money back. Nor is the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) likely to take action, he adds. "You're more likely to get bitten by a shark on George St in Sydney than you are to be prosecuted for insolvent training," he told Dateline. "The problem we have in Australia is there are so few cases where ASIC is taking action, or where liquidators have the funding to take action, that the bad guys out there know they're likely to get away with it. "More than 90 per cent of companies that go into liquidation give nothing to unsecured creditors. "There's all the laws we need to address this poor behaviour. What we don't have is effective enforcement of those laws." Harris adds that Mosaic Brands' use of safe harbour could be the first real test case for this law. While there is no time limit or expiry on the use of safe harbour, it relies on company directors and their advisers knowing when a business can't be saved. Harris says while it's hard to comment on Mosaic's specific situation without being across all the information, four years "stretches credulity". "If you're still having the same problems four and a half years later, then clearly it's not working... "Where were the gatekeepers?" A release issued on behalf of the Mosaic Brands board of directors last year, in response to previous reports the company had been using safe harbour protections, said its directors take their duties seriously, and did seek advice on the applicability and compliance with the safe harbour provisions. ASIC did not respond to Dateline's specific questions, but says it continues to monitor the administration of Mosaic Brands. Ongoing struggles Meanwhile, Dateline has spoken to 50 suppliers across Australia, China, Bangladesh and India who all say the way Mosaic Brands conducted business was unethical. In Shenzen, Shirley is still struggling to rebuild her life. To pay back her sister and cover her costs, she mortgaged her home. But she says Mosaic still owes her US$60,000 (around $92,000). Her dreams of growing her business and one day owning her own factory are now shattered. "I had delivered the products on time, on quality, to Mosaic," she says. "But I never imagined that they would cheat with my goods and not pay me." * Some of the debts referenced by suppliers in this story are disputed, with creditors' debts to be finalised as part of the administration process.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Robot vacuum maker Dreame's smartphone app vulnerable to hacking
A major Chinese robot vacuum maker's smartphone app has a critical security flaw, leaving it susceptible to leaking user data and credentials if targeted by hackers. When the Dreame smartphone app is used on a public wi-fi network, like in a hotel or airport, any information sent over the internet can be read by the network administrator. This could include login details, personal information and data about the house where the user's devices are located. Dreame's range of robot vacuum cleaners come equipped with cameras, microphones and connections to the internet, and are sold at more than a dozen Australian retailers, many of them well-known. The vulnerability is the second one to hit a major home robotics company in as many years, increasing the scrutiny on Australia's plans to launch a cybersecurity rating scheme for smart devices. Security researcher Dennis Giese — who discovered a separate vulnerability in Ecovacs robot vacuums last year – attempted to establish a contact at Dreame as early as 2021. "I tried to get a security contact for the last four years," says Giese. "But they effectively ghosted me." After failing to establish a reliable contact with Dreame, the researcher reported the vulnerability to US cybersecurity agency CISA. CISA reproduced the exploit, and assigned it a "low attack complexity" level in an alert it published last week. This means that the hack is not difficult to pull off for a sophisticated attacker. The security flaw — a misconfigured check for security certificates in the app — allows network administrators to pretend to be Dreame's own servers, and intercept user data. Contact Julian Fell at tips@ "Captured communications may include user credentials and sensitive session tokens," reads the CISA advisory note. "Dreame Technology did not respond to CISA's request for coordination." The ABC has also verified the exploit by connecting a smartphone to a wi-fi network that Giese had set up. The access point worked as expected. The phone was able to access the internet as usual when connected. However, when we logged into the Dreame app, the researcher was able to intercept our password. Dreame said it had forwarded the ABC's questions on to "the relevant teams for review", but did not respond in time for publication. "A formal statement addressing your questions will be provided to you once our assessment is complete," the company said in an email. Dreame has its products certified as secure by a third-party. Multinational testing company TÜV SÜD wrote in a 2022 press release that it had "performed professional security tests and document reviews" on one of Dreame's robot vacuum cleaners. It has continued to do so for newer models, one of which was completed as recently as August 2025. It is unclear whether the app itself was tested as part of this certification process. TÜV SÜD did not respond to the ABC's questions. Ecovacs' robots, which suffered from a separate security vulnerability, were certified to the same standard (called ETSI EN 303 645) by another testing company. This certification is mandatory for smart home products to be sold in Europe. It is intended to catch basic security flaws, yet several have been missed and later caught by external researchers after the products were released to the public. Lim Yong Zhi, a former cybersecurity tester at TÜV SÜD, told the ABC in 2024 that these certification standards may provide a "false sense of security" to consumers. He said the testing process is largely "left open for interpretation" by those doing the testing. While the standard specifies that common security features must be present, said Lim, there is no explicit requirement that they are implemented correctly. The repeated failures of international cybersecurity certifications come as Australia prepares to implement its own scheme, planned to launch in 2027. In July, the government announced a voluntary labelling scheme where companies can have their devices rated in terms of their cybersecurity protections. The intention is to allow Australians to make more informed decisions about the security of the devices they are buying. "Australians need to be able to trust that the devices they bring into their homes won't compromise their safety," said Tony Burke, Australia's minister for cyber security. "Whether it's a smart speaker or robot vacuum cleaner, consumers will know how safe a product is before they buy it." In recent weeks, the Department of Home Affairs has been consulting with Australian cybersecurity testing labs on the design of the scheme. One of the industry leaders who has been providing input is Viden Labs CEO Anthony Barnes. He says that the current rules and even proposed extensions to align with the ETSI EN 303 645 standard won't guarantee that devices being sold in Australia are secure. "Companies in today's economy win by being first to market, not necessarily by building the most secure product." "The current security standards only cover three of the 13 of the baseline security controls under the standard, which is not effective in identifying security vulnerabilities." Barnes is recommending that extra requirements are placed on how devices are tested, including "robust vulnerability testing and disclosure". Home Affairs is partnering with industry group IOT Alliance Australia (IOTA) in designing the scheme. Frank Zeichner, CEO of IOTA, says it is "pretty clear" what needs to be tested by labs under the ETSI EN 303 645 standard. "There is enough [international] momentum with the ETSI standard that it's heading in the right direction," he says. "We can't do anything unique because no one will listen to it. The manufacturers will just ignore it." A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said "the co-design process will consider standards and labelling regimes in other jurisdictions." Zeichner added that the scheme may only cover the devices themselves, not the apps that they connect to – which means the Dreame vulnerability would not have been caught. "There's no such thing as secure," he said. "There is only more secure."
