A conversation with Prof. Steven Freeland about the relevance/obsolescence of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the 1979 Moon Agreement, space resources, competing legal regimes, rules-based governance, geopolitical rivalry and lunar futures.
Biography: Steven Freeland
Steven Freeland is Emeritus Professor of International Law at Western Sydney University, and Professorial Fellow at Bond University. He also holds Adjunct positions at various other Universities/Institutes in Copenhagen, Vienna, Toulouse, Hong Kong, Montreal, Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, Mumbai and London.
Prior to becoming an academic, he had a 20-year career as an international commercial lawyer and an investment banker.
He was a Member of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board (2020-2024) and has been an advisor to many Governments on issues relating to national space legislative frameworks and policy. He represents the Australian Government at UNCOPUOS meetings and is Chair of a 5-year ‘Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities’.
Among other appointments, he is a co-Principal of specialised space law firm Azimuth Advisory, a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Future of Space, a Member of the Abu Dhabi Space Debate Strategy Council, and an Honorary Director of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL).
Recorded on 23 July 2025
What is Space for Diplomacy?
Space for Diplomacy™ is a podcast hosted by Dr. Susmita Mohanty, the trailblazing Director General of Spaceport SARABHAI, India’s foremost space policy think tank.
Each episode features in-depth conversations with former heads of space agencies, senior diplomats who have shaped international treaties, eminent legal minds advising governments, and leading technologists at the forefront of innovation — exploring complex, ever-evolving themes such as geopolitics, technology diplomacy, international cooperation, and all things space.
The podcast tracks the rise of eastern space powers, fractures in multilateral institutions, and the growing influence of private industry. Its mission is to critically revisit the 20th-century space narrative and craft a new one — balanced across hemispheres and attuned to shifting geopolitics, power realignments, and a new world order.