A lack of clarity in a treaty protecting US space tech coming to Australia could undermine the spirit of incoming defence export licence exemptions, a parliamentary committee has been told.
The Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) this week warned the joint standing committee on treaties examining the Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) of unintended consequences.
It said broad definitions in the TSA could maintain regulatory burdens on technologies that are about to receive export licence exemptions under AUKUS.
The TSA, signed by Australia an the US last year, provides the legal and technical framework for US companies, government agencies and universities to conduct launches from Australia spaceports.
It works to protect US space technology – in particular its rocket tech – and meet the US government’s international non-proliferation commitments.
In their submission to the inquiry, the industry body representing local and global space firms said it is concerned that “broad definitions” in the TSA could lead to “unintended consequences in a potential export license-free environment”.
The AUKUS partners are progressing reforms that will remove the need for 70 per cent of defence export licenses under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and 80 per cent of defence trade under the Export Administration Regulations from the United States to Australia.
SIAA executive chair Jeremy Hallett told the inquiry on Monday he is concerned that even if technologies are granted exemptions under ITAR, they may still face regulatory burdens if they are a component of a larger rocket technology restricted under the Missile Technology Control Regime, a non-proliferation regime for missiles and missile technology.
He put this down to “somewhat loose definitions” of covered technologies in the TSA.
“Where I worry about the intersection is that if they become licence free, as a standalone printed circuit board for example…is that derogated because they’re also part of an MTCR category one technology system, which is… covered by the TSA,” Mr Hallett said.
Despite his fears surrounding the TSA’s interaction with the incoming export license-free environment, Mr Hallett doesn’t share the view that the TSA would be detrimental to Australian rocket manufacturers.
He argued that since the “demand for launch globally is significant”, there is plenty of market share that can be captured “with the right technology” whether its offered by Australian or foreign companies.
In addition to calling for federal government investment in space capability, Mr Hallett called on the federal government to negotiate the removal of a US National Space Policy that restricts the US government payloads from being launched on non-US rockets.
“Seeing that change at the government level between Australia and the US would mean, in my opinion, Australian rocket manufacturers… can regain their advantage perhaps over European and Asian competitors who will not get the benefit of launching US government payloads, because that’s a significant customer,” Mr Hallett said.
This would still be compatible with the TSA which “doesn’t specify whether [a US government payload] must only occur when either a US launch vehicle or an Australian launch vehicle”, according to the Australian Space Agency who also appeared before the committee on Monday.
