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THE ANZSLIG PROJECT: ROCKETING AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND LAW INTERESTS INTO SPACE
(Source: iStock)
THE PROBLEM: SPACE LAW PROFESSIONALS ARE DISPERSED AND INDEPENDENT LIKE SCATTERED SPACE DEBRIS
The subject of space law is a relatively new and fastgrowing area of professional interest in Australia. Previously, only government funded projects of major space-faring nations could access space; the recent revolution in the commercialisation of space launches and space missions has proliferated the interests present in space; many new actors who previously couldn’t afford space launches or missions are now wanting to access and occupy space with not just single unit missions, but with multiple-missions to grow into mega-constellations. Accordingly, Australian interests in governance, rules, and ‘appropriate behaviours’ for the controlled and sustainable uses of space have similarly been rocketed to new heights.
The need for a body such as the Australia New Zealand Space Law Interest Group (ANZSLIG) was recognised after two connected events that were significant to relaunching Australian professional interests and projects for space activities. First, the International Astronomical Congress (IAC) 2017 was hosted in Adelaide and provided an ideal opportunity to realise the need to raise the profile of space law in Australia and New Zealand. Second, the Australian Space Agency was established in July 2018, which called for public consultations on the priorities and suggestions to update the Space Activities Act 1998.
THE PROJECT: SYNERGISE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND SPACE LAW INTERESTS
Mr Duncan Blake, space advocate and lawyer, is one of a group of like-minded space law professionals who recognised the gap in the bodies of knowledge available for consultation by government, industry or other interested parties and an absence of easily accessible, diverse and comprehensive space law knowledge they could consult. He invited a volunteer group of like-minded legal experts and space professionals from throughout Australia and New Zealand to gravitate together and establish a knowledge resource. The Rocket Lab company had only recently succeeded in launching its first space mission, making New Zealand a proven space-faring nation. The process of bringing a focused new organisation out of previous chaos evolved steadily: each step built on the lessons learned from the previous step, on the trajectory to a networked organisation of like-minded professionals.
The Australia New Zealand Space Law Interest Group (ANZSLIG) was established in early-2018 as a coordinating body of professionals from very diverse backgrounds including law, strategy, research, academia, industry, and others including from across various government departments – but all with a common interest in space law. The group’s knowledge base would build upon existing international, Australian and New Zealand laws but also recognise the rapidly growing interests and influences creating pressure to ‘re-shape’ those legal frameworks.
Although it took over 50 years after Australia’s first space event with the 1967 launch of WRESAT (first Australian satellite) from Woomera for Australia to establish its own space agency, it took less than one year after establishment of the Australian Space Agency for ANZSLIG to join the space community in supporting the Australian Space Agency to make much needed improvements to Australian domestic legislation for space activities.
THE FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR THE ANZSLIG PROJECT: IT’S ALL ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY Whilst the sustainability of ANZSLIG is one key focus of the group, this reflects on the newest global focus area of space sustainability – having knowledge, skills and experience to contribute on the sustainable use of space for both current and future generations. ANZSLIG has identified three major areas in space law that challenge space sustainability:
1. Regulating the military uses of outer space, in case such military uses escalate to a point at which space activities become unsustainable;
2. Space Traffic Management in order that all current and prospective space activities (ie including commercial, civil, and military) can be managed in a way so that the activities of one user does not make space unsustainable for other users; and 3. An international regime for space resource utilisation, so that the extraction and exploitation of off-world resources can proceed in a sustainable way, potentially for the benefit of all people.
Space sustainability is a new driver for guiding choices and options, in space systems and space activities, which require new rules to assure that space can continue to be useful today and accessible into the future. ANZSLIG will seek to provide a sustainable and living knowledge resource to better inform current and future project managers to deliver better outcomes that contribute to realising this sustainable future.
Australia has space-related dependencies throughout our society and ANZSLIG has been established to provide advice on the risks and laws associated with the uses of the space domain which continues to be increasingly congested, contested, and competed.(Source: CSmonitor)
ANZSLIG project challenges and lessons learned
• Clear leadership and direction in the void
• Early recognition of a need for diversity
• Connecting participants digitally
• Networked participants engagements
• Building a space law knowledge resource
• Focus and expand the reputations of Australian and New Zealand space law
• Motivating professional development and engagement
• Inspiring the next generations
• The importance of simple administration to allow participants to continue to connect
For further details please visit the ‘Space Law Interest Group (ANZ)’ page on Facebook or use the webform on the ANSZLIG webpage at https://anzslig.hom.blog/. Authors: Duncan Blake, LLM & Chair; William Gloster, LLB & Secretary; Michael Spencer, CPPM & Member
