Australia’s shadow communication minister, Liberal, Malcolm Turnbull has said he wants to propose a “new global pact to regulate cyberspying” in the wake of reports of further Chinese cyberspying in Australia and the US. 

Two things worth noting: Turnbull’s party is expected to win Australia’s federal elections in September.

The other thing is that Turnbull has previously voiced support for giving Chinese telecommunication Huawei –  blocked from national bids in Australia and the US – another chance, if and when the Liberals are returned to power. Huawei was blocked from participating in Australia’s national broadband network.

From the WSJ piece: “If the Chinese complain that they are being hacked, and they probably are, the argument is, well, we all have the capacity to hack each other, shouldn’t we be agreeing on some ground rules and it being in our mutual best interest to ensure that it doesn’t happen?” he said. 

The idea of ground rules is something the US government has long advocated for. Watch this space.