Minister for Defence - Doorstop - Visit to Larrakeyah Barracks for Exercise Pitch Black

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Senator the Hon David Johnston

Minister for Defence

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14 August 2014

MINISTER:

...so important inform to us in the last several years. The Armidale class patrol boats have been working, as I said yesterday to you all, at a phenomenal pace. The crews have been simply magnificent in their performance of the difficult task of rescuing people, of apprehending boats, of saving the lives, of towing boats long distances and doing all of the things that they have had to do, as I say, in the last four years.

So this morning I'm down here to thank them and pay tribute to the work that they have done and to assure them that the slightly lower tempo that we have experienced since the September election is to continue, we hope, and we are working very, very hard as a Government to make sure that the boats that we promised would be stopped, stay stopped. So enough from me, who wants to ask me some questions.

QUESTION:

Minister, 30 minutes ago the 'New York Times' and Pentagon sources have seemingly confirmed that there is a suggestion that military action would now be considered unlikely by US forces - that is, humanitarian military action. Have you received any briefings within the last few hours?

MINISTER:

I have been so busy dealing with these important Defence personnel here in Darwin that I haven't received any briefing yet, but I can tell you that our participation in the humanitarian drops has commenced. The PM will have more to say about that, but we have carried out the first of our tasks as we promised we would, and as we were requested. To the best of my knowledge, that has gone seamlessly, and once again I pay tribute to the crew of our C 130 J Hercules who have specialist skills in doing this sort of work, and I'm very proud of them.

QUESTION:

Can you give us an update on the humanitarian intake from the Yazidis and Christians in Iraq?

MINISTER:

The Government will have more to say about this once we get all the reports in. At the moment, the operation is ongoing in terms of providing the support that we have said we would on a humanitarian basis. So I'm sure that you'll hear and see further information as and when all of the known facts come to light through us over the coming 12-24 hours as to how mission has gone.

QUESTION:

Would it be possible for Australian troops to be involved in escorting those refugees out of that region?

MINISTER:

Well, look, we are not getting into any of those operational matters. I don't believe that there is any requirement for us to do that. What we are focused on and what I have said we are participating in is in the air drops from a humanitarian perspective only. Now, as this unfolds, that's what the Government is doing. That's what we have been requested to do and that's what we have the green light to go ahead and do.

QUESTION:

Minister, would you personally be a supporter of bringing a large number of refugees in those circumstances to this country?

MINISTER:

Well, look, that's not a question for me. That's a question for the Immigration Minister and the Government. A Defence Minister talking about who should come in and who should not come in, who should receive refugee status, who should not, is not really a matter within my bailiwick and I wouldn't want to be seen to be speculating about that, because my area of public policy is defence. So obviously Minister Morrison and the PM would be the people that that question should be directed to.

QUESTION:

In the lead-up to the White Paper process we promised (inaudible) after the last time we caused angst in China, would you be expecting to undertake a briefing tour into Asia to let people know what's coming with that?

MINISTER:

As you know, the General was in Canberra recently and I took the time to tell him about the responsibility that Australia has to be a reliable supplier, particularly of energy and food into east Asia and China is obviously one of the principal beneficiaries of stable and secure sea lines of communication.

I put the White Paper into the context of us seeking to do that job better, and also to refinance our defence portfolio, because after the previous Government's taking very large sums of money, namely $16 billion out of the budget in four years, that was the principal motivation for us to redo the White Paper. He seemed to understand it was rather much about the securing of the sea lines to the benefit of our trading partners, and the budget to the benefit of our overall national security. And he seemed quite relaxed about that.

QUESTION:

If Australia does make a contribution in Iraq, would Parliament be recalled to discuss that or debate that?

MINISTER:

The question would be one for the National Security Committee, upon the advice of the Defence Department as to the risk assessments of any matters going forward. But at the moment, the Government has not made any considerations in that regard. We are focused on the humanitarian and disaster relief that we are providing through the use of those two C130s and that's the state of play as of right now.

QUESTION:

Does involvement in the Iraq war in 2003 have any impact on the situation that we find ourselves facing now, and our responsibilities that situation?

MINISTER:

I don't believe so. Iraq has had a sovereign Government for a long time now and I just think we need to acknowledge that as time goes by, circumstances change. Some Governments are successful, some are not. We need to be conscious of the fact that we have the capacity, particularly in a humanitarian vein, to respond and assist as and when required. That's the focus of the Australian Government.

QUESTION:

Minister... the vessels behind us represent a significant re-tasking of defence assets in a way to deal with the border problem in recent times.

MINISTER:

Sure.

QUESTION:

Do you acknowledge to keep the border protection level that you are aiming at, that they are going to have to go on being involved in dealing the border protection issue long-term rather than their more traditional roles?

MINISTER:

That's a very good question, Tim. Our borders are probably some of the largest and our (inaudible) is some of the largest areas that any country would have to survey. So the logistics of the duty and responsibility of keeping our borders secure is one that really falls to Defence, because they are the only ones that have the capacity, the reach, the personnel, the knowledge and skill, to be able to be 2,000 and 3,000 nautical miles from home managing maritime surveillance, managing border protection.

Now, we also get greater assistance from the Customs service. But fundamentally, the platforms that allow us the knowledge and the capacity to plan and respond to secure borders are Defence platforms and that's I think pretty obvious. That's why one of the principal considerations in almost everything we purchase in the nature of ships and planes is range sustainability.

QUESTION:

You are going to have to keep doing it.

MINISTER:

I think they are always going to have to keep doing it, regardless of the operational tempo, to sustain our border security it requires huge range capacity, logistics, planning, etc, the Defence Department and our Navy sailors and our Navy officers are the principal first starting point in terms of managing what is a hugely difficult maritime area.

QUESTION:

On the question of range, the Japanese submarines that you toured up there are much shorter in range than perhaps you had originally been considering in the requirements for our submarines are, are you satisfied they are big enough to be able to go far enough, for what you want to do?

MINISTER:

Right across the board for diesel electric submarines, German, French, South Korean, Japanese, range is a principal issue. Of course, air independent propulsion assists that and we are currently evaluating all of those systems with the assistance of all of those countries as they feed into our questions and help us to understand what is the most effective way of delivering good submarine capability to Australia on the SEA 1000 project. So we are digesting all of the information on a Government to Government basis, that those countries that I mentioned are prepared to assist us with.

QUESTION:

... whether the need for 12, you were rethinking as to whether that might be necessary?

MINISTER:

I'm very much against book-ending programs. The reason we have an Air Warfare Destroyer problem is because we stopped manufacturing military, naval ships (inaudible). I think we want to talk about an industry, we want to talk about a process that goes on for a very long period not having a beginning or an end, so that we seamlessly, rather like the Germans, the Japanese, and the French do, roll new models through very carefully and very slowly so we build up an enterprise, build up industrial expertise, over a long period of time and that's the safest and most cost effective way I think of providing submarines to Australia.

Thank you all.

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