Minister for Defence - Interview on Sunrise with David Koch

Interview on Sunrise with David Koch

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Subjects: Manus Island detention centre, submarine tender, relations with Japan

JOURNALIST:

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton insists none of the asylum seekers being held on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island will be brought to Australia. The PNG Supreme Court has ruled the detention of 850 asylum seekers is unconstitutional and illegal. Now the Court has ordered the Australian and PNG governments to shut the centre. Defence Minister Marise Payne joins us now, Minister good morning to you.

MINISTER PAYNE:

Good morning.

JOURNALIST:

Big day for you with subs, but before that, just on Manus Island, Peter Dutton says look, we're not going to bring the 850 back to Australia. Where are they going to go?

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well, we are doing a number of things. We'll have to wait to hear what the PNG's Government response is. And obviously the Government will consider the implications of the court's decision in the coming days. I haven't spoken to Peter Dutton yet but there are obviously serious considerations for us to undertake.

JOURNALIST:

Okay, why not bring them back? If they're legitimate refugees?

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well that's a big ‘if’.

JOURNALIST:

Right.

MINISTER PAYNE:

And we've been very clear about our process and our approach to this since before the 2013 election. Nothing has changed in that regard.

JOURNALIST:

So part of these 850 are refugees, and cleared by our authorities, they will come here?

MINISTER PAYNE:

That would be a matter for the Minister and the Government, and I think they'll have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

JOURNALIST:

Okay, you're the Government though, and a Minister.

MINISTER PAYNE:

Yes, but I am only one member of that, part of a Cabinet Government, which of course the Prime Minister leads. And we will have to consider the court's decision very seriously. That will take the consideration of not just the Immigration Minister but the Attorney-General and the whole of Cabinet.

JOURNALIST:

Do you think this decision could spark–open the floodgates to people smugglers now saying right, we're going to take this opportunity, this gap, this dithering from the PNG courts, it gives us a window?

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well, we will do everything in our capacity to stop that happening. And we have an offshore border protection process that keeps a very watchful eye, our defence is involved in that, a very watchful eye on that, and I'm sure that we'll be very alert to anything like that happening.

JOURNALIST:

Do you fear legal battles from…

MINISTER PAYNE:

Do I fear legal battles?

JOURNALIST:

Yeah from some of the 850 saying you've incarcerated us illegally.

MINISTER PAYNE:

There may be. If that's part of the process there may be. But as I said, the Government will take advice from the Minister for Immigration, the Attorney-General and we'll look at our options.

JOURNALIST:

Okay. Alright, speaking of the Defence Force; $50 billion contract, 12 new subs going to be built in Adelaide. The critics say it would have been cheaper to let the French build it in France. Why have we decided to build them in Australia?

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well, last year the Commonwealth Government made a decision about developing a continuous naval ship building industry in Australia which goes a long way to doing a number of things. It maximises capacity for Australian jobs and Australian workers. It maximises our opportunities around innovation and science and technology, and submarines are a great example of where Australian ingenuity can come into play. And also addresses part of that cost burden that comes from the old stop-start process, if you like. So what had been happening was boats would be… ships would be commissioned, we would complete that project, and the industry would stop. To start it again, you were starting cold; that builds in a considerable amount of cost. So establishing a continuous naval ship building industry is part of ameliorating that, and addressing those challenges.

JOURNALIST:

Yep. The Japanese wanted to build them, are they going to be annoyed? Is this going to affect our relations with Japan?

MINISTER PAYNE:

I think both the other contributors to the Competitive Evaluation Process will of course, naturally, be disappointed with the outcome. But both the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, and I have been at great pains to stress the very significant importance of our special strategic relationship with Japan. It is firmly rooted in decades of cooperation with potential for greater, not just bilateral activity but trilateral activity with the United States. And we've been very careful to reinforce that.

JOURNALIST:

Are you happy with the process we've gone through for such a big contract to be let? Because Tony Abbott was sort of basically giving it to the Japanese.

MINISTER PAYNE:

I think the process has been comprehensive, as its title suggests. It has been rigorous, it has been methodical, it has run its full course, and I think that's very important. It was put in place in February of last year, it was completed relatively recently, it ran its full course, and it came up with a very clear recommendation which was for the French company DCNS.

JOURNALIST:

Okay, I suppose a lot of Australians will be sitting at home and saying $50 billion, that's a lot.

MINISTER PAYNE:

Certainly.

JOURNALIST:

We're paying a lot for new fighters as well. Why do we need them? Why do we need 12 subs at $50 billion?

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well, we've set this out very clearly in our Defence White Paper. We've set out the strategic environment in which we find ourselves as a nation, and a very dynamic changing strategic environment. The estimates are that in the next 20 years, 50% of the world's submarine fleets will be located in our part of the world. Now Australia as a single maritime nation…

JOURNALIST:

[Interrupts] Yeah, we've only got a piddly 12 of them though.

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well, we form part of strong alliances, as you know, across the world, most particularly with the United States.

JOURNALIST:

[Talks over] Right, okay, yeah.

MINISTER PAYNE:

And Australia as a single island maritime nation that depends fundamentally for our own economic prosperity and our national security on the capacity to look after ourselves and defend ourselves, has taken a decision that this is a very important part of our capability.

JOURNALIST:

And hopefully a lot of those Holden workers can be retrained into the ship building, and a good shot in the arm for South Australia [indistinct] which is great.

MINISTER PAYNE:

Well the opportunity for… the opportunity for workers, the opportunity for Australian industry is phenomenal. And we're very committed to making the most of that, every step of the way.

JOURNALIST:

Minister thanks for joining us.

MINISTER PAYNE:

Thanks David.

ENDS

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