ASIO warns telcos and electricity under threat - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

ASIO has warned that telecommunications and electricity infrastructure are under threat from foreign interference and cyber attack. The warning was issued as part of a broader national security assessment flagging vulnerability across critical infrastructure sectors.

Where this fits

Australia's electricity grid is being built on a supply chain, panels, batteries, inverters, processed minerals, that is 80 per cent controlled by China. That dependence is a sovereignty problem in itself. When ASIO flags electricity as a target, it is not only a cyber-security problem; it is a reminder that the physical inputs to the renewable transition are already concentrated in a single strategic rival's supply chain, and the grid itself is now a vector for that dependence.

What it means

A grid reliant on weather-dependent renewables needs more firming, more batteries, more inverters, more processing of rare earths and lithium. Each of those expands the surface area of exposure to Chinese supply-chain pressure, espionage, or coercion. A firm, long-lived, low-material alternative, nuclear power, would reduce the physical volume of imports needed, shrink the annual replacement cycle, and lower the grid's vulnerability to supply shock or deliberate interference. Australia has not built a nuclear power plant in sixty years, and it remains banned by law. ASIO's warning is a national-security case for reconsidering that choice.