A “sufficiently severe” cyber attack on either country could trigger a combined Australia-New Zealand defence response, the prime ministers of both countries said today.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Chris Luxon spoke in Canberra today during a round of talks about the ongoing partnership between the two countries.
Emphasising the current strategic circumstances in the Pacific, both mentioned a plan to increase “working in lockstep” in defence issues.
“We also discussed the increasingly important role that cyberspace plays to enhance cooperation in tackling cyber attacks,” Albanese said.
“We reaffirmed that international law applies in cyberspace and that a cyber attack on either country could, depending on its nature, constitute an attack under article four of the treaty.”
“The treaty” is the ANZUS Treaty, which was originally signed between Australia, the US, and New Zealand in 1951, and which since 1986 represents two separate treaties between …