 Welcome to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 here in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where I am very pleased to be joined in the studio today by Dr Tobias Fekin, who is the Australian Ambassador for Cyber Affairs. Dr Fekin, welcome to the studio. Thanks very much Max. Pleased to be here. Great stuff. Now I'd like to start off by asking you about the harnessing the power of information and communication technologies. There has been a lot of talk about that as an enabler for good, for development, for the benefit of people, families, communities and nations. I wanted to find out what's your personal perspective on this? Sure. Well, we're in the 21st century, everything's digital, isn't it? Full stop. I mean, it's funny when we put that as a precursor to any particular given issue, it seems like it's something special, which it is, but essentially every aspect of our lives is now enabled by the digital domain, be it businesses, be it our personal lives, be it governments, private sector, wherever we are. So fundamentally what does that mean? It means that we have to be connected. In Australia, we drive that pretty hard. We're sitting at about 86% coverage of broadband, which is a good place to be. But we're a big landmass. It does create problems. We do have spots where it's hard to get coverage, but we're driving that pretty hard. We have a national broadband network that we're developing, which will be finished finally by 2020, which will allow that broader access. But everything we do now in Australia is driven by innovation, drive, digital platforms, digital exchange, money exchange, et cetera. So it's at the heart of everything we do as a government, as a population, domestically, but that also spins out into everything that we do internationally as well. Now, this Plenary Potentiary Conference is the first since the world agreed on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. I wanted to find out what's Australia's position with regards to that, especially in terms of how ICTs are helping to drive sustainable development. Yeah. Cracking question, something again, which is at heart of our foreign policy and the way in which we as a country express ourselves internationally. So we have something called an international cyber engagement strategy and we reaffirm our commitment to the sustainable development goals. At its heart, that's again about connectivity. So we're working hard to try and connect the whole of the Asia Pacific as far as we can. Obviously, we can't do it all alone, but something we're doing is providing undersea cabling to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to ensure that they have high speed access to digital platforms and we're doing that all over the place. What else are we doing? We're trying to connect remote villages in parts of the Pacific Islands and also try and ensure that that enables populations regardless of gender and also trying to positively promote access to those platforms for women and girls, which we think is a vital part of those sustainable development goals. So it's at the heart of everything we do in our capacity building, in our outreach work, in the digital space and we're looking to drive that ever more over the coming years. Now it sounds like you're very much working towards a bit. About half of the world's population are connected to the internet. The other half is not. What's Australia doing in terms of getting everyone connected? So again, you know, if I look at the Asia Pacific as a region in and of itself, we now have over 50% of all internet users who are actually based in the Asia Pacific, but actually there's still 60% plus households which or individuals rather who still are unconnected. So A, we know that is an issue that we have to resolve, but it also presents a fundamentally amazing opportunity for those who are coming online. It gives an opportunity to buck trends to be innovative, to disrupt particular patterns of infrastructure development and business models. But again, that only comes with the connectivity piece. So how do we get people connected? Well, it is through assisting in some of the undersea cabling, broader infrastructure development in education, awareness, providing the technology with sustainable through life assistance in training and policy around that. So it's looking at it holistically and understanding that it has to be at the heart of everything we do as a government, the way that we project ourselves in cooperation with NGOs, with the private sector, and that's something that we as Australia like to embody. And for us, being here at the ITU Planner Potentiary presents us with an awesome opportunity to talk about that message, to share that with all the countries that we come into contact with. And, you know, that's one of the reasons that we invest so much in terms of the development agenda. $2.2 million now since 2015 that we invested. And we think that's a sound investment and one that will reap benefits for everyone in that room. Now, obviously, you've come a long way. Leaving Australia, you always come a long way, but to be here and you've taken the time to be here. So I just wanted to find out really, you've been getting a message across to participants here. But is there a message for the wide audience listening and watching this? Yeah, absolutely. Something that we've been driving in government is the fact that the ITU is an incredibly important organization to be involved in, to be contributing in, to be an active participant. So, you know, AI would say to everyone, don't sit there and let it wash over, you get involved, think about the key issues, think how about how you can affect those and create a change where necessary. But also remembering that, you know, it is core, the ITU has an awesome remit to deliver on. And I think, you know, for us, that development side of the equation is fundamental capacity building, assisting those who don't have that access, get that access for us. That's fundamental. And also have a great time, you know, enjoy all those relationships that you make. It's been a strange feature of my time in this role is I'm a cyber ambassador. And often it is those people to people links that you make, which really help you deliver on the big projects that matter. So cement those relationships, make friends. And we can kind of travel on this journey together. Well, thanks for taking the time to be with us today. And we look forward to catching up with you again in the future. Perfect. Thanks so much for having me, Max. That's great. Thank you. Cheers.