Minister for Defence - Transcript - Doorstop, Counter-Daesh Coalition meeting, Brussels

MINISTER:

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for being here in Brussels this afternoon. This is the end of a day where I have had the honour of participating in the most recent counter-ISIL meeting with over thirty other nations here to receive an update on progress in regard to the efforts to address the threat of Daesh in Iraq and in Syria, presented by both Secretary Mattis, General Votel and of course the new Iraqi Defence Minister, Minister al-Hayyali.

That was a very constructive discussion. I am also very pleased to say that I had the great honour of being the first member of the Australian Cabinet to meet with their counterpart representative in the US Cabinet. I’ve just had a very productive meeting and discussion with Secretary Mattis. Clearly we have a history and a range of shared interests, military-to-military and more broadly, that make this our closest and most important alliance relationship. It was a great honour to meet the Secretary and I am very much looking forward to continuing to work with him into the future.

REPORTER:

Did you discuss with him during your meeting anything to do with the South China Sea and whether or not Australia might play a role in freedom of navigation exercises?

MINISTER:

I won’t go into the very specifics of our discussion but we did of course discuss the region broadly, including the South China Sea. We compared notes, if you like, on activities in which Australia had been engaged in 2016 and will pursue in 2017 and similarly for the United States.

We both adhere very strongly to the view that countries’ activities should be conducted according to international law, that freedom of overflight and freedom of navigation ar e key to that and both countries confirmed that we’ll continue to act in accordance with those guidelines.

REPORTER:

Yesterday Secretary Mattis made it pretty clear that if NATO countries didn’t pay up then the US might do less. Did he deliver a similar message to you or was it more conciliatory?

MINISTER:

We’re not part of NATO obviously, so no, quite a different message. The Alliance is very strongly founded. I think the United States is very aware of this Government’s commitment to reach defence spending of 2% of GDP by 2020-21. That is a commitment set out in our Defence White Paper underpinned by the Integrated Investment Program that goes with that and certainly our Defence Industry Policy Statement. So I think there is a real awareness of our strong commitment in that regard. We’ve been meticulous since the White Paper was launched in February of last year in pursuing that step by step, g oing through our acquisition process and our Force Posture process, force structure process. All of those things I think give our key alliance partner great confidence that we are on the right track.

REPORTER:

Minister, Secretary Mattis has spoken several times now about accelerating the effort against ISIL and one of the things he said earlier today was that he was going to lay it out for his fellow Ministers. Did he lay out to you the plans to accelerate action against Islamic State and did he ask Australia for a greater military commitment?

MINISTER:

Let me start with the second part of your question, Ellen. No, he didn’t make any particular demands of Australia this afternoon, or of any other country for that matter. This is a process which as we know President Trump has asked of his military advisers and the Secretary of Defense that they come back within 30 days with a plan. That clearly will involve acceleratio n and from what we’ve seen so far in terms of the effort to retake Mosul for example, that has been a pretty solid slog, that has been a hard process by some very, very hard working members of the Iraqi Security Forces, of their Counter Terrorism Service, of their supporters in the international coalition, those who are engaged in Advise and Assist such as Australia. That will continue but the pace will pick up and we will see, in due course – about 15 days - the final form that that takes after it’s presented to the President.

REPORTER:

So would you be open to … if America comes to you and says either informally or formally that they would require a greater commitment from Australia, would you be open to that?

MINISTER:

We would consider any request on its merits and it would be a decision for Government once that had been considered.

REPORTER:

What about boots on the gr ound in Syria? Do you think that is something that’s going to be likely, is likely to happen in the coming year?

MINISTER:

I think that is part of the broad conjecture about the new plan that is to be delivered to President Trump, not a matter which was raised at all in the room today.

REPORTER:

What in your view would acceleration against ISIL look like? What would we see, what would we concretely see, in terms of an acceleration against ISISL?

MINISTER:

Well I am not going to second-guess those who make the operational decisions but what I would say is that we have a clear mission in front of us, that is to complete the taking of Mosul, western Mosul in particular. We know that is a complex urban environment and we are working hard towards addressing that and making sure that those forces are ready for that task. We then turn our minds to what happens in the stabilisation context. That is absolutely imperative and was reinforced by many participants in today’s meeting. So yes, we’re looking ahead but we have to remember that behind us there are communities and villages and districts and cities that need to be part of the stabilisation process in Iraq to make this an enduring result. Then ahead of us we also have to address what will be required in Raqqa. So they will be calibrated based on operational decisions. We will hear from the Chief of the Australian Defence Force and our military advisers as to how they think that plays out for us and make decisions in accord with that.

REPORTER:

Is Afghanistan a blue-print for that? I mean obviously Australia has a lot of experience there and could offer advice and support and material and so on. Do you think Afghanistan would be a good blue-print for how you follow-up after the acceleration?

MINISTER:

I think it’s invidious to try and make a direct comparison like that to be honest because I think they’re very different countries and very different circumstances and in some cases quite different enemies. So I think we should consider Iraq and consider Syria on its merits, deal with Afghanistan on its merits and take each case as it comes to us.

REPORTER:

Minister, you said no to Ash Carter a year ago when America asked for an increase then. What’s changed now or is it just that the President of the United States has changed?

MINISTER:

Not at all, in fact I think that in the context of what Australia is contributing and I made some observations in the Senate just last week, we have made some very significant contributions in terms of activity of our Air Task Group, our tanker, the KC-30A, the Wedgetails and the work that they are doing. That has increased in recent times. They are contributions which we are very proud of and I do want to acknowledge th e men and women of the ADF who are making those contributions and also pay tribute to their families who keep things together at home for them when they’re such a long way away. I made the point this afternoon, when you’re sitting around the table with 30-plus other nations who are part of the international coalition in this challenge, Australians come a long way to make this contribution. The men and the women who wear our uniform come from the other side of the world and they stand side by side with their international coalition partners for these causes. They make good work of what they do and I think it is important to acknowledge that.

REPORTER:

The Prime Minister and the President had a much publicised phone call just a few weeks ago. Did Secretary Mattis raise that at all and offer you any reassurance about the standing of the Alliance?

MINISTER:

I didn’t need any reassurance at all about the standin g of the Alliance. I am absolutely confident about the standing and the strength of the Alliance. Secretary Mattis and I had a very constructive phone call the day before Australia Day in which the importance of alliances was reinforced. His very high regard for the ADF was reinforced and we pursued a number of issues around our shared interests, so I need no reassurance about that.

REPORTER:

How crucial is he going to be as a figure, do you think, for Australia in terms of dealing with the Trump Administration, because he has a lot closer ties to Australia than some of the other members of the Administration, including the President himself?

MINISTER:

From my perspective I am very much looking forward to working with someone with his vast experience and also, as you say, his appreciation of Australia. I think that the observations he made this afternoon, which include the fact that he loves Darwin, are a good indicator of how close he feels to Australia and Australians. We of course have the Marine Rotation Force in Darwin at the moment. He visited them only last year. So I think we can see good things coming out of that.

REPORTER:

You’ve now been in the room with them, you’ve got the measure of them, he came here to Brussels with a kind of a threat to moderate the US relationship with NATO if Europe didn’t start paying out more money into defence. Do you think he was bluffing?

MINISTER:

I doubt that Secretary Mattis bluffs. I think the observations he made were very timely and they were reinforced by the British Secretary for Defence Sir Michael Fallon as well, that these are important undertakings and those who are sitting around the table need to step up to the plate.

REPORTER:

Doesn’t that now possibly compromise the security of Europe, and doesn’t it inject an element of doubt into whether the US is still fully committed to NATO?

MINISTER:

I think that’s a big reach, I think that the Secretary also made very clear the US’s strong commitment to NATO.

REPORTER:

Can I just ask about Islamic State? Do you have any update on the number of Australians who have been killed while fighting for Islamic State?

MINISTER:

I think those numbers were announced most recently by the Foreign Minister and it was over one hundred but I don’t have that detail with me.

REPORTER:

And was any information given today as to the current situation involving the leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who may or may not have been targeted in an air-strike two weeks ago?

MINISTER:

These are very, very difficult things to prove and disprove as you know and that was not a matter that was discussed.

REPORTER:

Just lastly then, I just wanted to go back to a question I asked before. If Secretary Mattis is making demands of his allies do you expect that he will make similar demands of Australia?

MINISTER:

Well Australia is in fact in a very sound and very strong position in terms of our relationship with the United States and our engagement in those shared pursuits, such as the counter-ISIL coalition and our work in Afghanistan …

REPORTER:

[Interrupts] So we’re already doing enough?

MINISTER:

We’re already making a very significant contribution. As I said, we do it from a long way away. We are on target to meet a defence spending ratio of 2% of GDP as set out in the Defence White Paper by 2020-21 and they are the sort of issues that are quite clearly important to the United States. I was very confident in delivering those responses today and as I t hink I’ve said in answer to all three of you in different questions, the opportunity to continue to work with Secretary Mattis is one I very much look forward to.