Dear Ministers, Members of Parliament, distinguished colleagues

It is both an honour and a delight to join you here in Sydney — about as far away from Norway as you can get.

For us up north, space is not an abstraction. It is an ally, a guardian, and a resource essential to our safety, our environment, and our sovereignty. Nearly half of Norway lies north of the Arctic Circle. Our Arctic Ocean territory is as large as Spain, France, and Germany combined. We live in a region that is changing fast — very fast — and we depend on space to understand and respond.

The Arctic is vast, remote, and hostile. On its own, it is difficult to observe or govern. But combined with satellite systems, it becomes a domain we can see, monitor, and protect.

• Melting sea ice is opening new shipping routes. Those ships rely on satellites for broadband, navigation, and safety. To serve them, Norway launched two high-elliptical satellites last year.
• Our Spaceport, at Andøya, perched north of the Arctic Circle, is one of Europe’s first commercial launch sites for polar orbit. Earlier this year, ISAR Aerospace carried out its first test launch.
• And then there is Svalbard, beautiful Svalbard, just 600 miles from the North Pole. It is a place of stark beauty, with polar bears, northern lights — and the world’s best-positioned ground station. With over 170 antennas, it tracks every polar orbit daily. Together with the Troll station in Antarctica, Norway ensures satellites are contacted every 50 minutes. The poles are not just cold — they are connected. By Norway.

So why does this matter?

What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.

• Temperatures there are rising four times faster than the global average.
• The Greenland ice sheet is melting, contributing to global sea level rise — threatening coastlines everywhere, especially here in the Pacific. That means refugees. People losing their homes. Also in places with no war.
• Thawing permafrost risks releasing vast amounts of methane and CO₂.
• A warming Arctic distorts global weather systems: shifting jet streams, altering monsoons, fueling droughts and storms.

The Arctic is Earth’s early warning system. Satellites are the instruments that let us hear it. Ignore them, and we ignore the planet’s alarm bells.

But space is not only about climate. It is also about security.

The war in Ukraine is reshaping Europe’s security architecture. Russia’s brutal and unacceptable aggression — its violation of sovereignty and threat to civilians — forces all democracies to confront unpredictability.

From my perspective, the calculus has shifted:

• Russia is more centralised, less predictable, and more aggressive toward its neighbours. We are a neighbour.
• The Kremlin is probing defences through hybrid tactics. The High North is no longer separable from Europe’s security space.
• Yet there is a positive side: Europe is more united, and more resilient than ever.

One of the most alarming examples of hybrid conflict is the wave of drone incursions over European airports.

• Last week, Copenhagen Airport was forced to halt operations after unidentified drones hovered overhead. Denmark’s Prime Minister called it “the most serious attack on critical infrastructure” to date.
• Oslo Airport experienced drone sightings at the same time.
• Within days, five other Danish airports reported incursions.
• In Poland, around 20 drones entered national airspace, apparently from Russia.

This is the new kind of warfare: probing, testing, intimidating, disrupting. Airports are not only transit hubs; they are symbols of sovereignty and open society. Threaten them, and you threaten our very society.

So what must we do? I suggest five guiding pillars:

1. Integrate Space and Security — Space systems must be part of national and allied defence.
2. Promote Shared Infrastructure and Data — From Svalbard and TrollSat to Copernicus, open platforms must expand.
3. Support Space Enterprises and Innovation
4. Strengthen International Norms — Space must remain peaceful, responsible, and governed by law.
5. Deepen Security Cooperation — Norway will continue our close partnership with NATO, the EU, and international agencies. Our Security and Defence Partnership with the EU is one example. We are stronger together.

If I leave you with one image today, it is this: look north — to Svalbard, to the Arctic, to satellites sweeping overhead. They are listening, watching, warning, helping. But they are also shields: shields for our climate, our sovereignty, our freedom.

Space is not distant exploration. It is a domain of necessity. It gives us the data to adapt, the signals to warn, the connections to unite.

The Arctic is sounding its alarms. Europe is under pressure. The norms we once took for granted are under strain. Let us ensure space remains our indispensable ally — for climate, for society and for security.

Thank you — and should you come to Norway, bring a warm coat and a strong coffee. Up there, the nights are long, the mornings are cold, and the polar bears never sleep.

Thank you!