Doorstop interview, Osborne Adelaide

SUBJECT/S: Skills and Training Academy, AUKUS, US relationship, Defence Spending, recruitment, Ukraine, the Opposition making policy on the run, Chinese Naval Vessels off the Coast of Australia, Cyclone Alfred

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: It is great to be here this morning for the sod turning of the Skills and Training Academy right here at Osborne- right next to the Osborne Naval Shipyard. And it's enormous honour to be here with the Premier of South Australia, Peter Malinauskas, with the Director-General of the Australian Submarine Agency Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead. We're also joined here today with the Deputy Premier Susan Close, the State Education Minister Blair Boyer. And I have with me a number of my federal counterparts, Senator Marielle Smith, Matt Burnell the Member for Spence Steve, Georganas the Member for Adelaide, and Claire Clutterham Labor's candidate in the seat of Sturt. I think I've got everyone here. It is a really exciting day. Today is a commitment of $480 million to the building of the Skills and Training Academy right here at Osborne. This will be done over the course of the next couple of years, with the Skills and Training Academy opening in the financial year 27-28. And in the fullness of time, what we will see is 800 to 1000 students coming through this academy each and every year, and this is really the cornerstone of our effort to build skills so that we can build ships and submarines right here at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. And that is going to be fundamentally important, because at its peak, what we will see at the Osborne Naval Shipyard, across both the Hunter program and our future submarine program, is the direct employment of 7,000 people. It is the heart of our skills endeavour. But it's not the only part of it. We've seen 3,000 Commonwealth places in our universities around Australia in respect of AUKUS- 1,000 of those are here in South Australia, Flinders Uni and the University of Adelaide. We've got pathways in skills. We're working with PEER group training and TAFE SA to provide hundreds of new places right now through the TAFE sector for skills that are critical to building our ships and our submarines. This is a really exciting moment in the progress of AUKUS. This is demonstrating that the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability is occurring, and then when this is up and running, what we will have at the Osborne naval shipyard is the most high-tech, biggest industrial production line in Australia, indeed one of the most high-tech production lines in the world. This is the single biggest industrial endeavour that our nation has ever attempted, and today is a day which marks the fact that this is very much well underway. 

PREMIER OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA, PETER MALINAUSKAS: Thank you very much, Deputy Prime Minister and Vice Admiral Mead. This is the day that South Australia has been waiting for. If we go right back to the announcement of the optimal pathway with the Prime Minister and the President and the British Prime Minister back in San Diego, as soon as the optimal pathway was announced, we knew that we had to get to work training people up. Ant nothing is going to be more important than an institution that would be right here at Osborne and the Skills and Training Academy to now start construction. The Skills and Training Academy is a milestone that will really differentiate the future of our state. The hundreds and thousands of young people coming through this facility to be trained up with the most exquisite of skills to build the most complex machine ever built in human history, all in South Australia. It is an unparalleled, unmatched opportunity. We have known as a state government for some time that there is nothing more important than the South Australian government can do to them to focus our efforts on skills at every level. It's why we've got a program that starts with three year old preschools, why we have our technical colleges doing work in high schools. It's why we pursued University amalgamation and why we're working so collaboratively with the federal government by revitalizing our TAFE. But the Skills and Training Academy here at Osborne will be the heat beat, it will be the centre of the training effort for everybody that will work on the future submarine program here in South Australia. If you're a fitter and turner, if you're a welder, if you're a sparkie, an engineer- all of those trades will be based here at the Skills and Training Academy. We're talking about basic trade qualifications, then gearing up to nuclear qualifications, in conjunction with working with our universities, it will all be based here 800 to 1000 people every single year. And these are people that will attain the skill to give them jobs for life. This is a program that we know, when it starts, it never stops. There is no country anywhere in the world that has started building nuclear submarines and then stopped building them. Once you start, you are in for good. Which means that young people, as they start to acquire the skills here at this facility- in fact, they're already starting to acquire facilities around the world- young people who choose this as a pathway will have a well-paid, secure, high-quality job for the rest of their lives. It ticks every box. This isn't just policy that is critical to the defence of our nation, it's also policy that is critical to the future of our economy as we pursue greater economic complexity, which brings with a higher living standards. So this has been a massive piece of work to be able to get to this point. I want to thank the federal government, the Defence Minister in particular, along with Vice Admiral Mead. You will remember- the journalists here will remember that some time ago or not that long, in actual fact, we finalized the land swap. That was critical. This was state government land. It's now federal government land, and now we're going to have a high quality Skills and Training Academy modelled on the facility of Barrow built right here on the Peninsula. And an enormous amount of work has to be done before we arrive at this point. And I just can't tell you how excited I am that we turn the sod today, and then by 27-28 young people will be getting trained here. That's the Holy Grail. So to everyone that has been involved in this effort, right across the board, today we thank you as we get on to the next stage of the task. And no person is probably more important to partner with a state government than Vice Admiral Mead, who I've been very grateful to be able to work with over the last few years, and hopefully I can for a long time to come. 

VICE ADMIRAL JONATHAN MEAD: Thank you, Premier, as a naval officer and in charge of the Australian Submarine Agency, clearly, I'm super excited by this milestone. The milestones that will happen very shortly over in the shipyard, transforming that into a technology frontier, and as the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned; one of the most advanced manufacturing centres in the world. I do need to thank two people, Premier Malinauskas and I have spoken on numerous occasions, scores and scores of times- he has been the absolute champion for the Skills and Training Academy. We would not be here today without his drive and push and driving the, you know, the Australian Submarine Agency to get this done as soon as possible. And, of course, the Deputy Prime Minister behind me, on his guidance and leadership and once again, his drive to get the Skills and Training Academy and the shipyard delivered on time, so that we can build the submarines- commence to build the submarines before the end of the decade. We remain on track in accordance with the optimal pathway. Thank you very much.

JOURNALIST: What's the split in cash? How much is coming from the feds? How much is coming from the state government, from that 490 million?

MARLES: Well, it's a $480 million federal commitment to this. And you know, I'd emphasize that this is obviously very much a federal initiative in terms of building the Skills and Training Academy. But it does form, I mean, the state have been partners in this, from the get go. The land swap, which has enabled this to occur has been facilitated by the leadership of Peter and is really a critical contribution to being able to make sure that this happens. It is a significant joint endeavour between our two governments. 

JOURNALIST: How dependant is this on AUKUS now looking a bit shaky, given what's happening in the US?

MARLES: Well, I was in the United States just a few weeks ago meeting with my counterpart, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. And there is support across the United States system for AUKUS. The Secretary of Defense was very clear about that. The Secretary of State has been very clear about that. And as I've said often, when you look at what has not just been said, but what has been done in the United States, in terms of voting in the United States Congress to enable AUKUS, that has been done across the political spectrum in the US, including Republicans, including Trump Republicans. So we move forward with a sense of confidence about the progress of AUKUS and the partnership between the three countries. And fundamentally, we do that for two reason; one, is it does enjoy bipartisan support in all three countries, but that is because, secondly, this is a plan which is in the strategic interest of Australia, it's in the strategic interest of the United Kingdom. It is very much a plan which is in the strategic interests of the United States. 

JOURNALIST: How concerned were you about President Trump's comments the other day, when he was asked about AUKUS and he didn't appear to know what it?

MARLES: Look as I say, I was in the United States just a few weeks ago, and it could not have been a better meeting with Secretary Hegseth. His comments were very clear, which were reported widely in the United States and here in Australia. And it is completely consistent with everything that has been said by, as I said earlier, Republicans in the process here. And this is not something which those Republicans have come to anew. In order for AUKUS to happen, in order to enable, the transfer of Virginia class submarines to Australia, in order to enable, for example, Australians to participate in the programs in the United States. We've got the better part of 130 people from ASC right now who are doing work in Pearl Harbor. All of that required legislation which went through the US Congress at the end of 2023 and did so with the support of Republicans and Trump Republicans.

JOURNALIST: Would a facility like this be able to be used with or without AUKUS, or is it completely dependent?

MARLES: Well this is a facility which is going to be at the heart of building both ships and submarines here in South Australia. We've made one of the things that has been really clear from the outset is that when you look at the many challenges we face in the very big endeavour of acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability, is having the capability to build the submarines, but importantly, having the human dimension of having the skills in place which enable us to have the people who can do that work. That's why this is so fundamentally important. And this facility here, the Skills and Training Academy, is really going to underpin the work with the Osmond Naval Shipyard. 

JOURNALIST: Is there a backup plan if the relationship with the US turns sour and all our chips are in this basket?

MARLES: Well, we are working closely with the United States as we are working closely with the United Kingdom in terms of acquiring this capability. We've been an alliance with the United States since the Second World War, and we will continue to be an alliance going forward, and that alliance is in the strategic interests of both countries. And Australia having this capability is in the strategic interests of both countries. We are contributing, right now, as part of AUKUS, to the American industrial base, seeing an increase in the production rates and the sustainment rates of Virginia class submarines in the United States, which enables a greater availability of Virginia class submarines for the US. There is something in this for the United States, and that is understood. And so we do move forward with a sense of confidence about where this arrangement look. 

JOURNALIST: On that, if the US did leave NATO, (inaudible)

MARLES: Look, I'm not about to speculate on that assertion. We are very much focused on making sure that AUKUS is moving forward in a timely way. Really, yes, we are obviously working closely with a new administration, as we did with the new government in the United Kingdom when they were elected in July of last year. That is going to be part and parcel of managing AUKUS over what is a multi-decade program as new governments come into place in the three countries that will be part of that process. But just as significantly, actually, is making sure that we are meeting all the milestones here in Australia like that, that is the critical path that we can contribute to in terms of making sure that AUKUS eventuates which it will. And that's what today is all about.

JOURNALIST: On that, would you like to have seen more happen faster on the ground- things like this happen more quickly, to give the Australian public confidence that AUKUS will go ahead?

MARLES: I think it's happening really quickly. I mean, we very soon after the announcement of the optimal pathway, I was here in South Australia signing with the Premier the statement of intent, which gave rise to the land swap, which has happened, which has enabled this facility to be built. This is part of the land swap that we're on right now. Whether you look at what has taken place in here in South Australia, whether you look at what's taken place in Western Australia, we've had one of the very first steps in the optimal pathway was an increased number of visits of US nuclear-powered submarines, to Australia. We've had the USS Minnesota at HMAS Stirling, in the last few days, and that's just been the most recent of a number of visits. At every step that we articulated in March of 2023 about what the optimal pathway for AUKUS would look like. We've hit those steps, and we've hit them on time, and we will continue to do that. AUKUS is happening. And I understand that people will continue to ask me questions about it, and that's completely fair enough, but just understand the answers to those questions, be it in terms of our international relationships, be it in terms of what we are doing here in Australia, is the same- and that is AUKUS is happening, and we are meeting every step that we said we would. 

JOURNALIST: In terms of recruitment of instructors and teachers for this facility, just how many will we need? And are you looking overseas to bring experts in?

MARLES: Well we're working closely with, obviously, the South Australian government, with the TAFE SA in relation to those matters, and we will make sure that we have the requisite number of teachers in place. The target here is to be having this facility up and running in the financial year 27-28 which is two and a half years from now. And we're really confident that we will be able to meet that. And as I said at the opening, in the fullness of time, we'll have 800 to 1000 students coming through here and helping the staff required to provide training.

JOURNALIST: Just on a slightly different topic, if I may, but still related; yesterday the Prime Minister has said (inaudible)- 

MARLES: We don't yet have any requests in relation to contributions, but when and if there is a request of this kind, we will consider it. That's what the Prime Minister has said. I mean, of course we will consider it. We do have, in fact, a proud history of peacekeeping. There are Australian personnel who are engaged in peacekeeping right now in the Middle East, in Africa. And so, we will look at what that request is. But as we have with all the requests that have come through in respect of supporting Ukraine, the important point to make right here is this: we stand with Ukraine, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to resolve this conflict on its terms. And the reason we say that is because the aggressor here is Russia. It was Russia who invaded Ukraine. And what is at stake here is not just the future of Ukraine, but also the international rules‑based order, and we are deeply invested in that. Now, as an island trading nation with an increasing proportion of our national income being derived from trade, we are deeply invested in the international rules of the road, so to speak. So we will stand up for them, and that's what we are doing in the $1.3 billion worth of support that we've already provided to Ukraine; in the training that we are doing right now in Great Britain, where there are Australian Defence Force personnel in Britain right now training new recruits into Ukraine in our forces. We will continue to do all of that, and we will look at what requests are being asked of us in respect of how that support can continue. 

JOURNALIST: But the question is, would we have the capability to do that without the US?

MARLES: Well, we are providing training right now in the UK to Ukrainian Armed Forces new recruits. We have the capacity right now to support Ukraine, and we are continuing to do that, and it is our plan to continue to do that. And we've been grateful for American and British leadership in respect of Ukraine over the last few years, and we will continue to look to them in terms of what systems they think we can most usefully provide and that includes a request of this kind. 

JOURNALIST: Can you provide an update on the Chinese warships to circumnavigating the country?

MARLES: I can. So those ships are about 500 kilometres north-west of Perth now. We have three assets which are in surveilling them- three maritime assets, HMAS Stuart, HMAS Warramunga, HMAS Toowoomba, the three Anzac class frigates. They'll continue to be on the task of surveilling this task group whilst it's in the vicinity of Australia. We've also had over flights of P-8 aircraft to keep a close eye on what this task force is doing. So we've been doing that from the outset. From the very moment that this task force came within the vicinity of Australia, in an unprecedented way, we have been surveilling its movements. Now, to be clear at all times, they have been complying with international law- that's important to understand, but we also have a right under international law, to surveil what they are doing, and that's what we have been doing, so that when this is all said and done, we're able to properly assess exactly what it was that this task group was trying to achieve. 

JOURNALIST: Is it almost all being said and done? Do you think this will be over within a couple of days? 

MARLES: I mean, I'm not going to speculate beyond what everyone can see in terms of the route that the task force has taken- the task group has taken, I should say. We will continue to stay with them so long as they are within the vicinity of Australia, so that we can completely understand what it is they were trying to achieve with this mission.

JOURNALIST: Opposition this morning, has dumped its threat to break up the big insurance companies of customers are being ripped off, is this case of policy on the run?

MARLES: What we have seen from the Opposition is consistently policy on the run, be it in this area or others. We saw on the weekend an announcement that they were going to seek to make a commitment to purchase another 28 F-35s. It transpired that they had no plans to build our Air Force, to actually fly them, no plans to have the money to sustain them or to house them. To be clear, an F-35 sitting on the ground doesn't do anything, you need pilots to fly them. And what is clear is that this Opposition, throughout the last three years in opposition haven't been doing the policy work. And policy on the run is their method of operation. 

JOURNALIST: Just on Queensland, is the ADF going to support cyclone efforts and what would that look like?

MARLES: Yeah, so I spoke with the Chief of the Defence Force last night to make sure that the Defence Force is absolutely ready to provide every form of assistance that is necessary right now and in the coming days. The priority as we speak, has been sandbags over the course of yesterday and today, the Defence Force has provided more than 300,000 sandbags to enable residents in Queensland to prepare for the cyclone. One of the advantages is that Brisbane is actually a big defence city, so 7th brigade, which is one of our three infantry brigades, is based in Brisbane. One of our two big Air Force bases is just to the west of Brisbane, Amberley. So these, these are two of the biggest Defence Force bases in the country. And that firstly, affords us personnel, but secondly is a really important base of operations across those two bases where we can provide whatever assistance is required. We are working very closely- we defence are working very closely with National Emergency Management Australia, that cooperation will continue, obviously, and whatever is required of defence in the coming days will be provided and provided immediately.

ENDS