Television Interview, ABC News Breakfast

SUBJECTS: ADF Personnel; Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred; Support for Ukraine; Western Australia Election.

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: We’re going to go back to southeast Queensland now where the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, is this morning. He's on the Gold Coast. Deputy Prime Minister, good morning.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, James. How are you?

GLENDAY: I'm very well, thank you. There are still a lot of warnings in place for flooding in particular, but is there a sense of relief at all from authorities that things weren't worse?

MARLES: Well, I think people are focused on doing the job at hand and there is still a job to be done. There's something in the order of 500 Defence personnel who are being deployed in Queensland right now, through Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, and indeed north of Brisbane as well. And there's another 700 who are deployed in northern New South Wales. So, right now people are very much focused on the job, making sure that recovery centres are being supported, welfare checks are being done, routes are being cleared and you know, we've got a number of assets that are ready to be deployed in the event that floodwaters rise. So, I think you take it a day as it comes, but there's still a little way to go in relation to all this now.

GLENDAY: The last update we had there was still 12 soldiers in hospital after the truck crash in northern New South Wales. Do you know how they're doing this morning?

MARLES: Yeah, look, all but one has been released, so that's good news. And the one person who is still in hospital is in a stable condition, not a life threatening injury, and is expected to recover. So, broadly, this is good news for those personnel who were part of the accident that occurred on Saturday. So that is, that is a relief. Although our thoughts are still with that person who's in hospital. But you know, our worst fears are not as bad as we imagine, perhaps late on Saturday night, so that is a blessing.

GLENDAY: For sure. There's going to be an investigation, but can you tell us what happened with this crash?

MARLES: Look, I'm not in a position to go into any more detail than what we've already articulated. There were two 40M trucks that were involved in this, they both rolled, there wasn't a collision. But beyond that, this is a matter which is being investigated and we'll let the authorities do that investigation before we start speculating.

GLENDAY: Yep, that is fair enough. Just to another issue, the Prime Minister spoke to his UK counterpart over the weekend. How serious is the government about sending peacekeepers to Ukraine in the future? And how many would we realistically send? Would it be like a dozen or would be looking at a much more significant deployment?

MARLES: Well, we're serious about supporting Ukraine and we have been since the moment that we came to government. And in fact, the former government was supporting Ukraine from the moment of the Russian invasion. And we've taken every request that has come and looked at how we can best support. We will be at a meeting, a planning meeting in Paris tomorrow, represented by Air Vice-Marshal Di Turton, who is Australia's military representative to NATO. That's a planning meeting looking at various scenarios and will participate in that. And if there is ultimately a request in terms of providing peacekeepers, we'll give due consideration to it. But we'd make the point that at the moment there isn't a peace to keep. But I'd also make this point, that we do have Australian personnel who are in the UK right now providing training to new recruits to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and indeed they've been doing that since the end of 2022. So, we already have a deployed commitment of Australian personnel in relation to this conflict. We'll look at whatever request comes. What has surprised me is that Peter Dutton has sought to politicise this in a way which really beggars belief. I mean, there has been bipartisan support for Ukraine from the moment of this conflict arising. All we're saying we'll do is give due consideration to the kind of requests that have been for that support, which we've thought has enjoyed a bipartisan support in this country, and yet Peter Dutton, on the eve of an election, is out there trying to politicise this, which is genuinely concerning. I mean, the national interest is the national interest and anybody who thinks that that national interest can be compromised in the face of seeking votes, or what seems to be popular, frankly, is not fit to govern. It is really important that we stay the course here and that means that we provide our support to Ukraine.

GLENDAY: You stole my follow up question, I was going to ask about the politics. But staying with politics, before I let you go. It was a big weekend for the Labor Party over in the West and the original plan was for your Government to be in election campaign mode today. Was it the right call to wait, do you think? And have you got your Budget submissions ready? Because a lot of people in Canberra were not expecting this Budget to happen.

MARLES: Well, I don't accept that. I mean, we've been working on a Budget now in the normal course, and Budget submissions have been presented to the Expenditure Review Committee. I sit on that. And so we've been very busy over the last few months, really, and particularly over the last few weeks in the lead up to the Budget. So, the Budget is going to be delivered in the ordinary course and we will take it from there. And when we go to the polls, which is obviously in the not too distant future, is a matter for the Prime Minister.

GLENDAY: All right. I'm sure he'll give you the heads up before that actually happens, but we do appreciate your time this morning, Richard Marles.

MARLES: Thanks, James.

ENDS