Doorstop Interview, Geelong

SUBJECTS: AUKUS; New Hydrogen Refueling Station in Geelong. 

JOURNALIST: Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said you were wrong last night about the US’ domestic submarine manufacturing capability. How do you respond to his claims you've overestimated the current rate of submarine production?                             

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: We've always known that increasing the production and sustainment rate in the United States is a challenge, but we're confident that we can meet that challenge. We need to get that rate up by the early 2030s, but what we are doing right now is providing funding to the US industrial base. There are 120, 130 Australian trades people right now at Pearl Harbor, working on American Virginia class submarines, getting them into the water. That's great for Australia in terms of the training and the skills that our people are acquiring, but it's really good for the United States. And the establishment of the Submarine Rotational Force – West at HMAS Stirling, south of Perth, is going to not only provide a place from which Virginias can operate, but it will also provide space and a cohort of people to sustain and maintain those submarines. Now, all of that means we are confident that we can get those production and sustainment rates up such that we're in a position for Australia to acquire the US Virginia class submarines as an Australian flagged submarine in the early 2030s. 

JOURNALIST: Are you worried that the US will pull out of AUKUS?

MARLES: I'm confident that AUKUS will proceed, as we have agreed under a treaty with the United Kingdom and the United States, with the Trump administration. The review which is being undertaken now is a completely natural step for an incoming government to take. We welcome it. We will work with it. It's exactly what the government in the United Kingdom did when it came to power. It's really what we did when we came to power and we undertook the Defence Strategic Review. It's a major initiative, new governments are going to want to have a look at it to see how they can best operate it. That's what's going on here and we will– we welcome this review and we'll work closely with the Americans on it.

JOURNALIST: The examination of the Australian Submarine Agency that you asked Dennis Richardson to do has now been finalised. Will the government share that advice with the Trump administration and the UK as part of the AUKUS agreement?

MARLES: We’re very open with our partners about how all of the steps we're taking in respect of AUKUS are progressing, and that very much includes the establishment of the Australian Submarine Agency and its performance. We asked Dennis Richardson really two years into the effective establishment of the ASA to kick the tyres, look at whether we can tweak this going forward. It's a new agency. I’m really very pleased with what Dennis has done, the insights that he's been able to bring to bear, and that is very much informing the decisions that we will take.

JOURNALIST: Just lastly, this is the first hydrogen fuel service station open to the public in Australia. Are you hopeful there’ll be many more after this?

MARLES: I think what you see behind us is the future. This is a really significant step and actually, I think, a very memorable day in Australia's renewable energy story, but very much in Australia's hydrogen story. Hydrogen is a great hope in terms of decarbonising the Australian economy and actually globally, dealing with the challenge of climate change. We are so well positioned as a nation, given our abundant renewable energy sources in solar and wind, but also because we're at the forefront of commercial long distance vehicle use, which is really one of the great applications of hydrogen as a commercial fuel. And that's why what we've got behind us with this refueling station is so important. This is the first publicly accessible hydrogen fuel cell refueling station in Australia. We're really pleased to support it through ARENA. And really, this is the future, and we're very much looking forward to this being the beginning of the commercial use of hydrogen in transport. 

ENDS