8 THE AUSTRALIA–US CYBER SECURITY DIALOGUE and freedom of speech. However, the inherently instable nature of contemporary cybersecurity means that unnecessary confrontation is best avoided in favour of strategic nudges and moves to collectively establish norms of online behaviour. While military cooperation between Australia and the US is an important element of the bilateral relationship, cybersecurity is a whole-of-government issue. To facilitate more preventive and proactive cyber diplomacy, Australia and the US should move beyond incident response measures and work together to build capacity, develop international norms of online behaviour and establish confidence building methods in the Asia–Pacific. At the same time, Australia and the US should strive to be cyber role models for the region, exemplifying best practice in cybersecurity policy, practice and awareness at home. The private sector must be a partner in the development and implementation of norms to ensure that there’s consent among the various communities within the multistakeholder environment. All of these collaborative efforts must involve partnering and potential co-ownership with the private sector, which operates much of the world’s internet infrastructure. In many cases, private-sector companies have established links to government-owned enterprises in the region that can be used to help increase local cyber maturity. There’s scope to improve the intelligence-sharing capacity of companies and to modernise international and cross-sectoral threat sharing mechanisms, creating a more detailed and real-time dialogue. Companies also have an important role to play in cyber norm development and implementation, and some US companies are already well engaged on this issue. The private sector must be a partner in the development and implementation of norms to ensure that there’s consent among the various communities within the multistakeholder environment.5 The first session of the dialogue discussion cemented the importance of bilateral cyber cooperation in the Asia– Pacific. Delegates agreed there are significant benefits and risks at stake in the pursuit of regional cyber stability and underscored the role for private-sector partnership in this effort. As the fast-changing neighbourhood of two mature allies, the Asia–Pacific will remain a focus of the Australia–US Cyber Security Dialogue in coming years.