It's 2030 and nations are vying for oil and gas reserves in Antarctica while also facing tensions over vaccine geopolitics in the post COVID-19 world.
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This is one of three crises participants in the Australian National University's first Australian Crisis Simulation Summit were forced to deal with in an effort to put their studies into practice.
National security leaders, including ANU chancellor Julie Bishop and former Defence Force chief Admiral Chris Barrie, have been brought in to mentor 70 university students joining virtually from around the country in the realistic crisis simulation held this week.
Event director Tim Hobbs said delegates were put into teams representing various government departments and agencies such as Defence, Home Affairs, intelligence agencies and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
"There'll be three crisis simulations where students will take on the roles of ministers, journalists, strategists and advisers," he said.
"They'll be thrust into a national security crisis for Australia and they'll have to work in teams, virtually, to solve those crises.
"And then in addition to that, around the crisis simulations we're having a number of Q&A panels to really contextualise the knowledge that the students will build in the crisis simulation."
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The summit has made use of crisis simulation software developed in the United Kingdom to bring the scenarios to life.
The teams dealt with a national cyber security attack and the role of non-traditional actors in the Pacific Islands as part of the five-day event.
Student journalists reported on the unfolding crises in a television studio, dubbed the Summit Broadcasting Corporation.
The event was put together with a $75,000 budget, funded by sponsors including the ANU's College of Asia and the Pacific and College of Law, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Department of Defence, the Department of Home Affairs and the United States embassy.
Mr Hobbs said preparing the workforce for future crises was a priority in a year where Australia has faced devastating bushfires and a global pandemic.
"The events of this year have brought a new sense of urgency to preparing for national security crises," he said.
"I think within government and all the people that we've interacted with in the private sector as well, both have a real interest in getting crisis simulations more prevalent within the workplace to prepare employees and workers for future crises and how to respond."