Part 2 of this Intelligence Optimised episode goes from “carbon is everywhere” to “carbon decides who holds power” - in energy, defence, health and the wider Indo-Pacific.

Todd Crowley continues the conversation with Mark Livings, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Sweet Atoms, to unpack how advanced carbon materials move from lab slide to sovereign capability. They break down super activated carbon for energy storage, hard carbon anodes that double capacity, flexible glassy carbon coatings that laugh at re-entry heat, and a new cathode material built from transition metals instead of rare earths.

For defence and energy planners, the stakes are clear. Sovereign carbon underpins sovereign energy storage. Without it, lithium exposure, hydrogen leakage and foreign-controlled supply chains limit what Australia and its AUKUS partners can field, fuel and defend. With it, you can build batteries that carry more energy in a smaller footprint, plate submarines and missiles with stealthy, anti-fouling coatings, protect troops with lighter PPE, and keep critical sensors alive in extreme environments.

The conversation also tackles how to grow this as a genuinely sovereign industry. Mark outlines a pathway from deep-tech R&D in Brisbane through pilot plants to export-ready advanced manufacturing, tied to Australian universities, public capital and strategic OEM partners. He sketches how an AUKUS materials corridor for advanced carbon could work in practice, and how IP is protected with a mix of patents and trade secrets.

Across energy storage, critical materials, hydrogen, medical filtration and defence supply chains, the message is blunt: sovereign carbon is moving into the same category as critical minerals. Leaders who ignore it risk finding that their grids, fleets and compute all depend on someone else’s feedstock.

If you shape policy, budgets or capability in this space, this episode will help you see where carbon materials fit in your next brief, program or investment round. Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Advanced carbon is one of the quiet foundations of modern capability - running through batteries, sensors, drones, soldier systems, grid storage and data centres. More than 90 per cent of it comes from China. Part 1 of this episode of Intelligence Optimised looks directly at that dependence and explores what real sovereignty could look like for Australia and the wider Indo-Pacific.

Todd Crowley speaks with Mark Livings, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Sweet Atoms, whose team converts agricultural waste into high-performance carbon. Their work sits at the intersection of energy storage, critical minerals and supply-chain resilience. For defence and energy planners, the message is simple: without sovereign carbon, there’s no sovereign energy, and without sovereign energy, there’s no sovereign compute, mobility or industry.

The conversation traces the scale of the problem - from the spike in global demand for batteries to the consequences of leaning on foreign industrial systems for essential materials. Mark outlines how Australia’s agrifood sector produces enormous volumes of biomass waste, much of which can be valorised into advanced carbon suitable for batteries and other strategic uses. It’s a rare alignment of national assets: strong agriculture, abundant waste streams, and a pressing need for domestic materials capability.

The conversation covers:
✔️ Energy storage becoming a core industrial input across sectors
✔️ Grid stability pressures and rising portable-power demand
✔️ Geopolitical friction straining energy-related supply chains
✔️ Local manufacturing potential by processing biomass at the source

For leaders in energy, defence and government, the episode offers a clear view of what’s at stake: Australia’s ability to power its own infrastructure, support partners in the region and shield critical systems from offshore shocks. It’s a practical conversation about pathways, not promises.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Young Australian men are carrying more isolation, welfare reliance and aimless grind than many leaders realise - and that has direct consequences for workforce readiness and national resilience. In this episode of Intelligence Optimised Podcast, host Todd Crowley sits down with Lachie Stuart, founder of The Man That Can Project and former professional rugby player, to explore how purpose, responsibility and mateship rebuild capability at the individual and national level.

Drawing on lived experience from elite sport to men’s groups, Lachie breaks down a practical “resilience loop”: set a clear North Star, make the hard choice that moves you towards it, and stack small wins until confidence catches up. He explains why resilience must be outcome-specific, how honest role models across work, family and health reshape identity, and why real mateship is inconvenient service - the kind that turns up, stays late and tells the truth. Todd brings the policy and national-security lens, connecting these personal shifts to boardroom priorities: safer crews, steadier teams and a stronger leadership pipeline across defence, government and critical industries.

The conversation covers: 
✔️ Playing through setbacks when the goal matters; language, culture and isolation shocks from time overseas; 
✔️ The slide into booze and distractions when purpose is missing; 
✔️ The turnaround powered by accountability, routine and community. 
✔️ The data picture - rising welfare reliance and loneliness and points to interventions that work: early work exposure, rites of passage, activity-led catch-ups, and environments that reward contribution over posturing.

For leaders, the brief is clear. Audit where your people are at. Create training grounds, not waiting rooms. Pair young men with credible mentors. Bake in small, repeatable challenges that build competence and pride. Australia’s future strength in the Indo-Pacific will come from men who are trained to serve something bigger than themselves - at home, on site and in uniform.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Australia is moving fast to secure its digital sovereignty through new AI “factories” and national-scale data centres.  In this episode of Intelligence Optimised Podcast, Todd Crowley speaks with Pete McCrystal about the Firmus–CDC–Nvidia alliance and the national push to establish “AI factories” across multiple states. Together, they unpack what sovereign capability really means when applied to the digital domain.

In this episode:
✔️ Firmus–CDC–Nvidia alliance — and what “sovereign” control means in practice.
✔️ Energy and cooling needs for AI-scale data centres within Renewable Energy Zones.
✔️ Why infrastructure planners and policymakers must align on grid stability and capability uplift.
✔️ Lessons from global outages and liability risks when AI systems self-modify.
✔️ The practical meaning of the Critical Infrastructure Act for data, AI, and national control.
✔️ What success by 2028 could look like — from 3D-printed defence parts to domestic manufacturing revival.

Listeners gain a grounded view of how AI, energy, and infrastructure intersect in national resilience. The episode offers practical steps for policy, defence, and ICT leaders who need to prepare for an AI-enabled economy without ceding control of the core systems that power it.

For Policy advisers, CIOs, defence planners, infrastructure executives, and anyone shaping Australia’s AI and energy strategy across the Indo-Pacific, this is a practical guide.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

In part 1 of this two-part conversation, Intelligence Optimised explored practical sovereignty — how Australia can’t be fully sovereign in technology, but can be far more prepared. Todd Crowley and Swaroop Tulsidas (formerly of CSIRO and a key figure in the creation of Nature IQ) mapped the digital landscape: AI, IoT, cloud, and digital twins; the rise of Southeast Asian super apps; and the policy trade-offs shaping markets and data rights. That discussion set the stage — outlining how digital infrastructure and natural-capital intelligence can give governments and industry faster, more confident decisions in the Indo-Pacific.

Now in part 2, the focus turns from capability mapping to execution and strategy.
Swaroop and Todd examine what building true sovereign capability looks like when global supply chains tighten and political cycles shorten. They trace the long game — China’s 50-year rare-earths strategy — and contrast it with how democracies like Australia must build strategic consistency through public-private partnerships, adaptive procurement and trusted friend-shoring.

The conversation broadens into manufacturing, capital and talent. From sovereign defence tech such as DroneShield to advanced materials startups and energy innovators like Aquila Earth, they show how regional collaboration and targeted investment can lift resilience without retreating from global markets. Southeast Asia’s industrial realignment emerges as both a test and an opportunity for Australia’s mid-power role: using its science base, venture capital and alliances to fill high-value gaps in AI, robotics and clean-energy supply chains.

Listeners will gain perspective on:
✔️ How to identify which industries demand sovereign control — and which rely on partnerships
✔️ Why capital, not capability, is the real bottleneck for Australian innovation
✔️ What lessons India’s defence self-reliance offers for other sectors
✔️ How AI and automation can anchor a Southern Hemisphere industrial hub

Across both parts, the message is consistent: sovereignty isn’t isolation — it’s preparedness.
Part 1 charted the systems; Part 2 explains how to build and fund them. Together they form a grounded blueprint for leaders navigating risk, technology and power shifts in the Indo-Pacific decade ahead.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Australia can’t be fully sovereign in tech - but it can be more prepared. 

In this episode of Intelligence Optimised, Todd Crowley speaks with Swaroop Tulsidas - formerly of CSIRO and a key figure in the creation of Nature IQ - about practical sovereignty: how to cut risk in an interconnected world by building the right capabilities at home and choosing dependencies wisely.

They map the landscape: AI, IoT, digital twins and cloud; the rise of super apps in Southeast Asia; and the policy trade-offs that shape markets and data rights. On the ground, examples matter. We examine Australian moves like an emerging sovereign large language model trained on local content, a digital twin platform for faster infrastructure design, and low-power IoT for agriculture (e.g., smart collars for welfare and tracking). Each points to sovereign digital infrastructure as a means to lift decision speed and reduce exposure in Indo-Pacific supply chains.

The conversation tackles environmental regulation and investment timing. With the EPBC Act review flagging gaps, Australia needs clearer rules and faster approvals so capital can flow into housing, energy transition and critical industry without sidelining natural capital. We discuss sequencing natural-capital risk (start with direct exposure, then supply-chain Scope 3), and how predictive analytics and real-time monitoring help leaders move from reports to decisions.

Hardware and materials remain hard limits. Australia depends on chips and compute built offshore, and on magnets tied to rare earths where China dominates mining, refining and manufacturing. That creates real risk if regional tensions escalate. Leaders should plan for alternatives, diversify suppliers, and back local processing and manufacturing where it moves the needle.

Strategic takeaways:
✔️ Use AI digital twins for scenario planning and approvals to cut months from decisions.
✔️ Treat natural capital as an asset on the balance sheet to guide trade-offs.
✔️ Map supply chains for social and commodity risk; set triggers for rerouting and substitution.
✔️ Assume partial sovereignty: decide which dependencies you will own, share or insure.

This is frank, usable insight for planners across defence, energy, agrifood, infrastructure and ICT in the Indo-Pacific. 

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

In Part 1, the conversation exposed the lived impacts of Australia’s current childcare model - from parents driving hundreds of kilometres to reach centres, to professionals unable to return to work because care options don’t fit their family needs. The discussion framed childcare not just as a social issue, but as a national productivity challenge.  

Part 2 moves from problem to policy. Todd Crowley, Madeline Simmonds and Jen Fleming unpack “Family Selected Care” - a proposed reform to the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) that would let funds follow the family rather than the centre. Parents could choose registered grandparents, nannies, or au pairs as approved carers, giving them flexibility without adding cost to government.  

The conversation builds on national debate following the Productivity Commission’s early childhood report, which called for universal childcare by 2036 but left families questioning whether flexibility was still out of reach. Simmonds and Fleming argue for a simple shift: let subsidies follow the family, not the centre. Their proposed “Family Selected Care” category within the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) would allow registered grandparents, nannies, or au pairs to receive payments the same way approved centres do.

The episode also contrasts Australia’s approach with models in the UK, France, and New Zealand, where parental choice already underpins childcare funding. The guests argue that the current system - centred on providers - fails families in rural regions, shift workers, and households managing health or disability needs.  

Key takeaways:
✔️ A direct, low-cost reform to increase workforce participation  
✔️ A pathway to recognise informal and kinship carers  
✔️ Alignment with NDIS principles of choice and control  
✔️ How current rigidity costs families and productivity alike  
✔️ A call to policymakers to modernise subsidy delivery  

For government advisers and social planners, this episode shows how subsidy design can drive both equity and productivity. It’s a grounded, data-backed conversation that challenges leaders to act before birth rates, workforce shortages, and parental stress deepen the gap.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Why childcare subsidy reform matters for productivity and family policy. Hear from parents leading the national debate.

In this Part 1 episode of Intelligence Optimised, Todd Crowley speaks with Madeline Simmonds and Jen Fleming, co-founders of the 4 Parents advocacy group, about the critical intersection of childcare policy, productivity, and family wellbeing.

Simmonds and Fleming are driving a national petition—already with more than 18,000 signatures—urging the federal government to rethink how childcare subsidies are delivered. Their core proposal is simple but far-reaching: pay subsidies directly to parents, mirroring the National Disability Insurance Scheme, so families can choose the care model that actually fits their circumstances. This could mean grandparents, nannies, or au pairs—options currently excluded from subsidy support.

The discussion dives into the Productivity Commission’s 2024 report on early childhood, which set out 56 recommendations and a pathway to universal childcare by 2036. Yet the lived reality for families shows systemic gaps: long waitlists in childcare deserts, shift workers paying for unused places, parents facing 300-kilometre round trips, and families locked out by health or disability needs. The conversation highlights how rigid models leave many without viable choices, forcing some women out of the workforce and dragging national productivity down.

This episode covers:
✔️ Why current childcare subsidies don’t fit modern family and work patterns  
✔️ The call to fund parents directly and broaden approved care models  
✔️ How lack of flexibility impacts productivity and workforce participation  
✔️ Stories from rural, shift-working, and medically vulnerable families  
✔️ The wider economic cost of childcare-related sickness and absenteeism  

For policy advisers and planners, the implications are clear: flexibility in subsidy design is not just a family issue—it is an economic and workforce priority. Listeners gain concrete insight into how policy can close gaps, reduce hidden productivity costs, and better align with contemporary work and family structures across Australia.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

If you caught Part 1 last week, you’ll know the supply chain picture. This week in Part 2 we test the coalition and Defence side of the ledger.

How exposed is Australia if the Indo-Pacific turns hot? In this episode we map the real stress-points: crowded sea and air lines of communication through the South China Sea and archipelago; a thin domestic refining base that lifts our reliance on imported fuel via Singapore; and non-kinetic attacks that can freeze pumps, power and comms without a shot fired. We also examine the national-will question—can government and public support hold when petrol runs short and utility bills spike?

From supply chain security to force posture, the discussion is blunt. The United States sees conflict risk as nearer than most Australians do. That gap matters for planning. We unpack what Australia can contribute in a coalition beyond high-end combat, how AUKUS intersects with near-term readiness, and why mixed signals to allies complicate access to scarce Virginia-class production. At home, Defence faces recruitment and retention headwinds, capability nearing end-of-life, and programs crowded out by submarine funding. Mobilisation would need to reach beyond current ADF strength—something we haven’t done since the 1940s.

Strategic takeaways: identify and protect the few refuelling and import nodes that keep the economy moving; pre-plan rerouting options for SLOCs/ALOCs; stockpile critical inputs; and align messaging so industry, states and the Commonwealth move in step. In the Pacific, leaders should read intent behind infrastructure “gifts” and price the future call-ins. Commodity dependence cuts both ways—iron ore flows shape leverage—but planning on leverage is not a plan for resilience.

If you lead in defence, energy or logistics, this is a working brief on what to do now: set posture, harden nodes, and rally national will before the whistle blows. 

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Australia’s defence planners face compressed timelines, fragile supply chains, and Indo-Pacific conflict risks.
This episode of Intelligence Optimised confronts the blunt reality of what Australia must do to prepare for a conflict that could arrive sooner than many expect. Host Todd Crowley speaks with Paddy Hallinan about national defence planning, alliance cohesion, and the compressed warning times that redefine Indo-Pacific security today.

Across the conversation, they test the assumptions driving Australia’s readiness. Can the nation and its Pacific partners sustain themselves if a kinetic conflict escalates? What does whole-of-nation planning look like when cyber attacks and information operations are already underway? And how do trade interdependencies with partners like Japan and South Korea shape the risks around LNG, iron ore, and critical supply chains?

Key issues include the National Defence concept and plan, the balance between keeping the economy running and hardening critical assets, and the role of sovereign capability in energy and supply-chain resilience. The discussion highlights the risks of misalignment inside coalitions and how adversaries actively target those seams. It also examines how China’s missile reach and Taiwan calculus sharpen the urgency for Australia to be “match-fit” within just a few years.

The episode grounds policy debate in practical takeaways: treating uncertainty as a risk–opportunity problem, prioritising alliance alignment as the first principle of planning, and recognising that any future conflict will likely reach Australian shores through cyber, economic, and physical domains. For senior officers, planners, and policy advisers, the value is clear - translate strategy into concrete next steps that lift national resilience.

Intelligence Optimised Podcast cuts through Indo-Pacific noise to provide frank, usable analysis. Find deeper briefs and situational insights inside Vaxa Bureau.

In this solo episode of Intelligence Optimised, Todd Crowley unpacks why agriculture now sits squarely in the national security frame. Drawing on the Australian AgInvestment & Sustainability Summit, he maps the link between food systems, sovereign capability, and Indo-Pacific resilience. The discussion moves beyond farm practice and balance sheets to the hard questions: how do we secure critical inputs, prove natural capital outcomes, and build sovereign supply chains that stand up under pressure?

Key threads include agriculture as national security “no food security, no national security”, the rise of natural capital in investment decisions, and the strategic risk in phosphate supply. Australia’s heavy reliance on imported fertiliser exposes the system; domestic projects in the north double as resilience plays that can stabilise prices and cut vulnerability. 

Throughout, Todd shows how leaders can fuse OSINT HUMINT - open-source data on shipping, weather, and commodities with ground truth from producers, investors, logistics operators, and planners - to move from reactive to proactive.

Strategic takeaways:
 ✔️ Treat agriculture as sovereign capability, not a sectoral afterthought.
 ✔️ Build fertiliser sovereignty: diversify sources and back viable domestic phosphate.
 ✔️ Use natural capital to unlock capital—focus on credible measurement, not slogans.
 ✔️ Stand up sovereign supply chains that can absorb climate and geopolitical shocks.
 ✔️ Combine OSINT + HUMINT for a real-time operating picture leaders can act on.

For planners, executives, and advisers working the food-security problem set, this episode offers clear next steps to protect production at scale while signalling to markets and partners across the Indo-Pacific. Secure inputs, prove outcomes, and align investment with national-interest goals - so you’re ready today and prepared for tomorrow.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Part 2 moves from problem to delivery. Jason Murray stay on counter-UAS and show how to field effects at pace - starting with Rooster, a physics-based round that lifts terminal effect on small drones but cuts down-range lethality. Rooster has been proved to TRL-6 and is entering staged TRL-7 work. It’s designed for in-service weapons and remote weapon stations, with fragment-on-demand 7.62 NATO settings and engagement out to ~800 m from RWS - useful around critical infrastructure, ports and urban areas where what goes up must not come down as a lethal threat.

The lab builds it, but people make it real. We cover a veterans-first workforce, and the Aimpoint partnership to “grow your own” skills - an ASQA-approved munitions/EO apprenticeship, an armourer pathway through to Master Armourer, and a ballistics course in development. We outline how a multi-user, privately owned defence precinct can speed load-and-assembly work (e.g., Murray Bridge) and give SMEs building uncrewed platforms a munitions design partner they can actually access.

Certification and policy matter. Australia certifies to NATO MOPI, not NATO; we propose an Indo-Pacific certification hub to avoid EU/US bottlenecks and fast-track interoperability. We also call for a DIU-style unit to back early-stage defence tech through TRL-7, plus closer government–industry embeds. COVID showed what happens when verification and supply lag reality; AUKUS Pillar 2 and universities should feed practical skills, not just papers.

What to do now:
✔️Back TRL-7 trials that lead to fielding, not just reports.  
✔️ Stand up precincts that let SMEs and primes integrate, test and ship.  
✔️ Fund training pathways that put veterans into armoury and ballistic roles.  
✔️ Build an Indo-Pacific certification hub so units can train with what they’ll deploy.

Rooster is being launched to international buyers at DSEI London, alongside other lines (EOD disruptors; 12-gauge vehicle interdiction). The window for readiness is tight. Move now so teams can train, certify and protect what matters.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

Australia’s security turns on a hard question: do we have the right ammunition, in the right place, at the right time?

In this episode of Intelligence Optimised, host Todd Crowley sits down with Jason Murray, CEO of Ares Armaments Australia, to unpack how sovereign munitions - especially non-standard, mission-specific rounds - can cut exposure to overseas shocks and lift counter-UAS readiness across the Indo-Pacific. Non-standard ammunition is imported, freight can be several times the product cost, and demand from larger theatres can crowd Australia out.

Key points for planners and capability managers:

✔️ Build small-batch specialist lines with low MOQs that switch calibre fast.
✔️ Close supply-chain gaps - primers, propellant, cases - and plan for surge.
✔️ Source local training munitions so police can train more for less.
✔️ Counter-UAS: the ‘Rooster’ round converts existing small arms for greater effect on small drones with lower fall-back risk - vital for urban defence and critical infrastructure.
✔️ Understand how Remote Weapon Stations intersect with ammunition choice.
✔️ Navigate certification: push proven concepts from TRL 6 into TRL 7 with the right backing.
✔️ Collaborate across ADF, policing and allied forces in the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland (NT/FNQ); learn from US pathways like the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

Strategic takeaways

✔️ Build sovereign munitions capacity for non-standard needs.
✔️ Prioritise supply-chain resilience and domestic inputs.
✔️ Plan counter-UAS at the tactical edge.
✔️ Use small-batch domestic manufacture to shorten lead times and lift readiness.
✔️ Don’t bank on imports during global surges.

References to Thales Australia, EOS Defence and the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

This episode of Intelligence Optimised takes you to the floodplains of the Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, home to one of Australia’s most significant aquaculture operations - Humpty Doo Barramundi. Dan Richards - the farm’s director sits down with host Todd Crowley, to uncover how a family-run enterprise has grown into a key contributor to national food security.

From the site of the failed 1950s Humpty Doo Rice Project to today’s thriving barramundi operation, we explore the lessons learned from early challenges and the practical strategies that made success possible in a tropical climate. The conversation spans production processes, market positioning, sustainability practices, and the farm’s role in building local employment and skills.

Listeners will hear frank discussion on the intersection of agriculture, regional capability, and Indo-Pacific trade. We look at how a premium Australian-grown fish competes in domestic and export markets, and why sustainable production methods are central to both environmental stewardship and long-term economic viability.

For agrifood industry planners and policy advisers, the episode offers clear, actionable insights into scaling operations, securing supply chains, and aligning production with strategic national interests. These lessons carry weight not just for aquaculture but for any sector seeking to lift resilience in remote and regional settings.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

How AI in government cuts queues, enables 24/7 support, and strengthens disaster planning without getting stuck in procurement?

Artificial intelligence is no longer a “someday” tool. In this episode of Intelligence Optimised, host Todd Crowley sits down with Curtis West to unpack how AI in government can lift service delivery across councils and small national governments alike. We cover where machine learning fits (forecasting, anomaly detection, asset planning) and where AI agents change the game - moving beyond basic chatbots to actions that help residents complete payments, renew permits, or lodge applications.

The discussion starts with first principles: ML for optimisation and decisions from data; generative tools and agents for natural, human-centred interaction. From there, we go straight to use cases: 
✔️Licensing and permit renewals to cut queues; 
✔️24/7 citizen support that answers and acts; 
✔️Predictive maintenance using IoT and vision (even pothole detection on garbage trucks); 
✔️Disaster logistics that model options in seconds rather than weeks. Brisbane City Council provides the scale reference;
✔️Mauritius and Sri Lanka show how smaller Indo-Pacific nations can leapfrog through agile moves and targeted investment.

We also deal with the hard bits that stall projects - procurement cycles that lag fast-moving tech, and data silos that starve models. The remedy is a measured pathway: run small, measurable pilots; communicate results; and build from there. Curtis’ Eliminate - Support - Extend model helps leaders stage the work: eliminate manual, error-prone tasks; support staff with decision tools; then extend capability with new services like 24/7 assistance.

If you lead a state or local agency, or run service delivery in a council, this episode gives you a clear starting point: pick high-volume, low-complexity pain points, design a pilot with hard metrics, and address procurement and data issues up front. The national-interest payoff is real - faster services, better resilience, and citizens who see government work for them across Australia, New Zealand and the wider Indo-Pacific.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.

How much capability is Australia leaving on the table by chasing “zero-risk” procurement?

In Part 1, Aaron Pollard laid out why real security starts with culture, not compliance and how SMEs often carry the biggest burden.

Now, in Part 2 of this Intelligence Optimised conversation, host Todd Crowley goes deeper with Aaron to expose the cost of risk aversion and the internal blockages slowing down delivery.

Key threads
✔️ Security culture v clearance culture – why risk-based controls beat a decades-old tick-box mindset.
✔️ Defence-industry friction – uneven implementation costs, secret-material rules that hit SMEs harder than primes, and the dreaded “frozen middle” that stalls projects.
✔️ Sovereign capability at stake – guided-weapons supply crunch, AUKUS submarine delays, and the talent shortfall throttling shipyards and drone lines alike.
✔️ Practical fixes – drip-feed training, message-of-the-month comms, walking the factory floor, and a simple “yes—if” policy that turns security into an enabler.
✔️ Effect-based procurement – ditch equipment wish-lists; start with the effect the war-fighter needs, then weigh options against risk, cost and timeline.

📍 Why it matters
Defence planners and security managers will recognise the rising strategic tempo in the Indo-Pacific. Continuing to treat security and procurement as exercises in risk elimination leaves forces waiting - and adversaries watching. A risk-based approach, woven through supply-chain, ICT and workforce policy, can deliver guided weapons, autonomous systems and submarines faster, while still protecting classified data and national credibility.

Whether you sit in CASG, an SME cyber team or a prime’s bid office, this episode builds on Part 1 to frame clear steps that lift security culture and keep capability on schedule - vital for Australia’s sovereign capability edge in a contested Indo-Pacific.

Find deeper briefs and tools inside Vaxa Bureau.

Hit Essential Eight, guard IP, and keep your Defence contracts - practical tactics for Aussie defence SMEs.

Small and mid-sized firms sit at the sharp end of Australia’s defence supply chain. They build smart kit, hold sensitive data and keep prime contractors moving - yet many still treat security as a box-ticking chore. In this episode of Intelligence Optimised, host Todd Crowley sits down with veteran security strategist Aaron Pollard to spell out what “good” now looks like.

 Key talking points
✔️Why cyber security outranks physical guards and gates in 2025.
✔️The jump from Top 4 to Essential Eight maturity level 2 and what it costs.
✔️Using Defence Industry Development Strategy grants to fund your uplift.
✔️Mapping and marking intellectual property so it doesn’t walk out the door.
✔️Leveraging ASIO outreach and insider-threat training to turn staff into sensors.
✔️Scoping controls only to defence-facing networks to save cash.
✔️How workforce shortages and ASD’s Red Spice program are pushing salaries north.

📍Why it matters
Defence expects the same security baseline from a five-person CNC shop as it does from the primes - fail to meet it and your purchase orders disappear. Aaron breaks down the hidden levers SMEs can pull: narrow the system boundary, pick the right managed service provider, and use grant money only after a Defence-issued Maturity Action Plan. The result: compliance you can actually afford, and information assurance your customers will bank on.

Whether you manage a niche software team in Adelaide or a composites plant in Brisbane, this conversation hands you the playbook to cut risk, lift resilience and keep delivering capability across the Indo-Pacific.

Find deeper briefs and step-by-step guides inside Vaxa Bureau.

How natural capital accounting lets CFOs price ecosystem risk, secure Indo-Pacific supply chains and find new value.

Nature underpins every tonne shipped, meal served and unit of power generated across the Indo-Pacific - yet its true worth still hides off the books.

In this episode of Intelligence Optimised Podcasts, CSIRO’s Dr Tony O’Grady joins host Todd Crowley to unpack natural capital accounting: a rigorous method that treats forests, water and soils as real assets alongside plant, property and equipment.

Key points for finance and risk leaders:
✔️ Map ecosystem dependencies in supply chains - why fertiliser phosphorus or coastal mangroves are as material as diesel prices.
✔️ Use TNFD-aligned metrics to convert ecosystem services into dollars, then slot them into balance-sheets, cash-flow models and board packs.
✔️ See how companies like Forico, BHP and Kering publish environmental profit-and-loss statements and what that does to cost of capital.
✔️ Understand disclosure momentum - TNFD, TCFD and IFRS - and why waiting invites higher finance costs and shareholder activism.
✔️ Spot the geopolitical edge: unpriced degradation fuels migration, food insecurity and defence flashpoints from Nauru to the South China Sea.

Strategic takeaways
✔️ Early movers gain cheaper capital, steadier inputs and brand trust while competitors scramble under new compliance.
✔️ The board, not the sustainability team, must own nature risk; CFOs already have the valuation tools.
✔️ Reliable data are emerging - CSIRO’s Natural Capital Handbook and spatial datasets make entry affordable.

For defence planners, agribusiness exporters and infrastructure owners, the signal is clear: price nature now or pay later.

Find deeper briefs and decision tools inside Vaxa Bureau.

Europe is no longer a spectator in the Indo-Pacific.

Brussels, Berlin, Paris and London are rewiring policy, defence posture and capital flows to lock in strategic autonomy because 60 % of global GDP and every flash-point that matters sit in our neighbourhood.

Host Todd Crowley unpacks the quiet pivot you’ll miss if you only watch the headlines. German frigates surface in the South China Sea. EU cyber teams plug into Pacific networks. Global Gateway money starts chasing ports from PNG to Timor-Leste. Each move forces a simple question: where does that leave Canberra?

📍For defence planners: the era of one-size-fits-all coalitions is giving way to minilateralism—tight, mission-specific packs handling maritime presence, domain awareness and AI-enabled joint training. Australia owns the access; Europe brings kit and capital. Curate the engagement or watch others call the shots.

📍For trade officials: the stalled EU-Australia FTA is heating up because supply-chain security now beats tariff maths. Brussels is hunting lithium, rare earths, hydrogen and resilient food-water systems - budgets already earmarked. Miss this and your competitors sign the offtake agreements first.

📍For critical - industry operators: Crowley overlays Global Gateway finance on real projects - clean-energy hubs, submarine cables, water - security grids - showing how European standards plus Australian ground truth cut new corridors that lift regional resilience and trim risk premiums.

Takeaways land hard and actionable:

✔️ Map where EU procurement meets your export pipeline.
✔️ Align basing access and training spaces with minilateral partners, not just AUKUS.
✔️ Build ESG transparency now - Brussels will ask.
✔️ Plug Pacific relationships into Gateway bids before Beijing or Paris outruns you.

Listen in if you brief ministers, draft capability plans or chase capital for green infrastructure.

Skip the speculation - get the playbook. 

Find deeper briefs and decision tools inside Vaxa Bureau.

Atmospheric water generation shows defence planners a faster path to water security and lower logistics risk.

Part 1 of this conversation laid the groundwork - field lessons from East Timor, plastic waste in PNG, and the commercial model letting one water cooler in an office fund clean supply in five remote communities. 

In Part 2, Intelligence Optimised host Todd Crowley continues the discussion with Shannon Lemanski - veteran, engineer and founder of Aqua Ubique to explore how atmospheric water generation (AWG) scales across Australia and the wider Indo-Pacific.

They unpack why councils with fewer than 10,000 connections fall outside national reporting, leaving critical services - aged care, child care, schools - on bottled water budgets that can top $600 a fortnight. Enter AWG: plug-and-play units pulling drinking water from humid air, delivering 10 - 15 L/day in a standard office footprint or scaling to thousands via containerised systems.

Key takeaways for defence and disaster-resilience planners:
✔️ Slash the logistics tail - remove fuel-hungry convoys and bottle drops from contested supply chains.
✔️ Build redundancy - decentralised units stay online when power and water grids fail.
✔️ Lift ESG performance - cut landfill and diesel burn while meeting social reporting.
✔️ Scale across the Indo-Pacific - service archipelagos like PNG and Nauru without plant infrastructure.

Shannon shares the logistics calculus: hit the fuel truck and the tank column stops; hit the water supply and the force fails. AWG flips that risk - using solar, battery or biodiesel to create secure supply where it's needed most.

Whether you're managing a base, mine or regional health network, this episode gives practical insight on what to deploy, where, and why now.

Find deeper briefs inside Vaxa Bureau.