TRANSCRIPT:

NEW DEFENCE WHITE PAPER ANNOUNCEMENT

Australian Defence Force Academy

11:00am, Friday 22 February 2008

e & o e

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

Well, what a powerfully symbolic gathering, today’s Defence leaders talking about a plan which will be largely implemented by tomorrow’s leaders, those leaders, of course, this morning standing behind me.  And I’m really pleased to have them with us for this important announcement this morning.  I’m sure you’ll all agree they’re looking very good and very professional, and we’re very proud of each and every one of them.

There is, of course, no higher priority for any national government than the defence of its country, its people and its interests. Providing that security is an expensive business and the funds are never available, as you all know, in unlimited supply.

That's why the White Paper process that I announce today is so important. The new government has committed itself to maintaining Defence funding growth; but no government, unfortunately, will ever be in a position to fund all the things it would like to fund to ensure it's in a position to adequately deal with every possible contingency the country might face, either in the short term, the medium term or, indeed, in the longer term.

So every dollar spent in one area of capability is a dollar not available to be spent in another. This opportunity cost is the thing that we should always have in the forefront of our minds whenever we're thinking about spending those finite defi... Defence dollars.

So for me the White Paper process I'm announcing today is about that more than anything else, making sure that the Australian Defence Force has all the capability, protection and training it needs to ensure that it is able to effectively defend the nation and its interests in as safe a manner as is possible.

The new document I announce today will be the blueprint for Australia's future defence. It will clearly set out the Government's plans for the size, capacity and shape for the next 20 years or more.

The White Paper we are currently working from was, of course, developed in the late 1990s and released in the year 2000. The world has changed so much since then: September 11; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the bombings in Bali and Jakarta; the nuclear ambitions of rogue states like North Korea and Iran; big shifts in the global distribution of power; and, of course, real concerns about failing states closer to our own home in the South-West Pacific.

And such significant changes demand a far-reaching review of our current strategic environment and outlook. It is long overdue.

The Rudd Government's new Defence White Paper will ensure that Australia's Defence capability requirements are achievable and are always guided by our long-term strategic priorities. It will begin with a fundamental reassessment of our strategic environment, our strategic interest and, of course, our strategic priorities.

It would then need to, one, define the roles we expect our Defence Force to undertake based on those assessments; two, determine the force structure required to undertake those tasks; and three, provide robust analysis to allow disciplined and cost-effective choices to be made about major capability investments.

In addition to this main process, I have also commissioned a series of accompanying reviews to be conducted across the Defence organisation, in order that our management and budget structures are well placed to respond to the White Paper's guidance.  These background studies will play a key role in developing Defence business and budget priorities right out to the year 2030.

Of course, the Defence White Paper will not stand alone. The Prime Minister has declared that an integrated approach will be taken to reviewing Australia's security objectives. Australia's first comprehensive national security statement will help guide the development of this new Defence White Paper.

Now, having consulted the Prime Minister, the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force, I today announce that Mr Michael Pezzullo, currently Deputy Secretary of Strategy in Defence, will assume the role of principle author of the White Paper. He will begin his new position as head of the White Paper team this coming Monday and I congratulate Mike on his appointment and I wish him and his team every success in the future.

I've also appointed an advisory panel to provide me with external advice on some of the key strategic issues relating to the White Paper and to work with Mr Pezzullo and his team. I've selected three eminent Australian strategists to fil... to fulfil these roles. They're all known very well to you all: Professor Ross Babbage; Major General Peter Abigail; and Dr Mark Thompson. They will bring much expertise and experience to the White Paper process.

I will soon announce the establishment of a community consultation panel and program to provide Australians who want to have a say on the new White Paper with an opportunity to do so.  Building stronger community interest in the future of Defence is an important priority for the new government. We will soon provide details on how the public can contribute to that process.

Can I close today by saying I'm determined to get our strategy and planning right and to make sure decisions in the future are always based on sound strategic guidance. And I'm delighted again to be able to say that this was an excellent choice of venue for this announcement this morning; again, talking about the future challenges for the country in front of those who will be handling the future challenges for the country.

So I'm delighted to be embarking on what promises to be a significant and exciting journey along the road to delivering a new Defence White Paper, a new plan to meet the strategic challenges of the future.

Thanks for coming along.

And I'll take questions if people have them.

QUESTION: 

When's the White Paper due to be finished, ready?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

The Government is very determined to have the process complete by the end of 2008.

QUESTION: 

On AUSMIN tomorrow, what sort of issues will you be bringing up?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

Well, very, very pleased to be hosting both Secretary Gates and Secretary Negraponte. This is the new government's first real opportunity in a formal way, I suppose - aside from Minister Smith's recent visit to Washington - to further develop and strengthen the great relationship and friendship between the two countries.

We'll have lots on our agenda. We'll be talking about that a bit later on. But no doubt, given the news of this morning in particular, Secretary Gates and I in particular will find ourselves concentrating a fair bit on events in Afghanistan.

QUESTION: 

Minister, Canada has set a 2010 withdrawal dra... date [indistinct] two and a half thousand troops. Does that give any sort of impetus to Australia to start thinking about doing the same thing?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

I'm not surprised Canada has set a date; and I'm not surprised they have started to put some conditions upon their contribution. The Canadians have been under significant domestic political pressure for some time now; they've lost more than 70 people in Afghanistan, so the domestic concern is understandable. I've had many discussions with both their Defence Minister and their Foreign Minister. I understand their concerns very well. They have been and will continue to make a magnificent contribution, at least out until the date that they've declared this morning.

But I think it just underscores again the need for us to make a collective effort to ensure that those under-performing NATO countries do more and do more with less caveats.

QUESTION: 

But what about an exit strategy? You won't think about that yet?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

Oh, we've made it very, very clear that our commitment in Afghanistan is a long-standing one. I said in the Parliament just this week, what a tragedy it would be if all that we've done in Afghanistan so far was, in the end, all for nought.

So our commitment is a long-term one. I announced an important configura... reconfiguration of our contribution this week, which will mean we have a greater emphasis on training. I firmly believe that bringing the Afghan National Army up to capacity is absolutely critical to long-term success in that country.

QUESTION: 

Minister, whe...

QUESTION: 

Minister, any Defence White Paper usually contains a substantive element on industry policy. How does an end of 2008 White Paper gel with the plans to have an early sale of the Australian Submarine Corporation?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

I don't see the - I don't think there's a particularly strong link. I think we all know where we need to go with the sale of the corporation. The Labor Party and the new government's made it very clear we won't stand in the way of that sale. There are some conditions attached to that; I think they're well known. But we think the marrying of the two issues is very, very manageable indeed.

QUESTION: 

Minister, can you effectively run a White Paper when the whole national security framework for the country is at issue this year and isn't settled? And you're also running other inquiries into air combat capability that will be released at two stages through the year. Would those things add issue? Can you actually manage a White Paper in the  s... at the same time?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

Well, of course, we can. The air capability, of course, is already underway; it will be complete by the end of April and it will importantly feed into the White Paper process.

The Prime Minister is determined that we concurrently run a Defence White Paper process along with a foreign white paper and, of course, a broader National Security White Paper agenda. And I think that's more than manageable. And I think he's absolutely right to be looking to do them concurrently and to integrate the three.

QUESTION: 

Can you explain to us just where the Defence White Paper fits into that overarching national security strategy?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

Well, the importance of doing them concurrently is to ensure that they're feeding into one another and wor... and the teams are working cooperatively, to ensure that there's one big picture for Australia's future national security.

QUESTION: 

Minister, Hugh White's been the architect of previous White papers, particularly the landmark 2000 document. Do you see any role for him in the preparation of this document?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

I think it's widely accepted that Hugh White did a magnificent job on the 2000 White Paper and I suppose that's one of the reasons we've decided to largely follow the same model by having Mike Pezzullo do the job this time around; he finds himself in exactly the same situation that Hugh White found himself in, in the year 2000.

And I've had many discussions with Hugh about the coming White Paper and I'm delighted to say he's very, very keen to make an informal contribution.

QUESTION: 

Is [indistinct] why you chosen Michael Pezzullo?

QUESTION: 

Minister, with your talks tomorrow, Minister, with Mr Gates, will you be raising the issue with the Super Hornets and where Austra... how Australia is reconsidering that?  And will you be also telling him that the Labor Government is still committed to the process for the [indistinct]?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

Oh, look, I know Secretary Gates is fully aware of the process we're going through here in Australia.  And I know that Secretary Gates would never want me to pre-empt the results of that air capability review, and on that basis I don't really imagine it's going to be part of the discussion.

CONVENER:

Last question.

QUESTION: 

Given Labor has...

QUESTION: 

Can you just say wh...

CONVENER:

Last question.

QUESTION: 

Given Labor has said that it will play a more independent foreign policy - develop more independent foreign policy, is there going to be an element of trust-building in this AUSMIN meeting tomorrow?

JOEL FITZGIBBON:        

I don't really think there's a need to be doing any trust-building at the AUSMIN meeting tomorrow.  Both Stephen Smith and I have had a number of conversations with our counterparts since our election late last year and I can report to all of those present that the relationship remains very, very strong.  The level of trust has never been higher.  And I look forward to working for it together with our American friends.

Thank you.

CONVENER:

Thank you very much.

Media contacts:

Christian Taubenschlag (Joel Fitzgibbon):       02 6277 7800 or 0438 595 567

Defence Media Liaison:                                 02 6265 3343 or 0408 498 664