Radio Interview, ABC

SUBJECTS: Middle East; Australia-China relationship; Australia-US relationship; Childcare

HOST, STEVE CANNANE: Joining me now is Richard Marles, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. Welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.

ACTING PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Morning Steve, how are you?

CANNANE: I'm well, thanks. Let's first get to that breaking news. Overnight Israel launched airstrikes in the Syrian capital Damascus. The US Secretary of State says an agreement has been reached on steps to de escalate that situation. Do you share that confidence that this situation has been de escalated?

MARLES: Well, we want to see a de-escalation. So, that would seem to be good news that is coming from the US Secretary of State. But you know, our position on this is that obviously what we want to see is a de-escalation in the conflict that's playing out in the Middle East.

CANNANE: Let’s move onto China. The Prime Minister is about to end his six day visit. What has Australia got out of this visit?

MARLES: Well, it's been a really important visit in terms of building engagement with China. I mean our relationship with China is obviously complex, it's obviously challenging, but there are opportunities in it as well. Trade is the most obvious of those and we've seen in the way in which we have stabilised the relationship with China over the last few years, a resumption of trade which has been much to the benefit of the Australian economy. Thousands of jobs have been restored as a result of that. So, there is opportunity here. But at the same time there are also challenges and even in the national security space, whilst, you know, the challenges that we see there aren't resolved- building better communication channels is really important. But I think the fundamental point, Steve, is this, that for all the complexities of our relationship with China, it is benefited by engagement. That's what other countries are doing and that's what we seek to do. And the annual leaders meeting, which is what this is, is a really important part of that.

CANNANE: Let's talk about some of those challenges, there doesn't appear to be any change to the situation of the detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who's been locked up since 2019. And there doesn't seem to have been any assurances given by China about not conducting any future military operations near Australian waters. Are they disappointments there?

MARLES: Well, we continue to advocate on behalf of Dr. Yang, and the Prime Minister made clear that he raised Dr. Yang's case in his meeting with President Xi. It's important that we have consistency in terms of continuing to raise this case. But it's also important that we, you know, are prudent in the way in which we talk about this. And what we want to see obviously is an outcome in terms of this consular case. And these matters are delicate. But you can look at what the government has done over the last few years in terms of how we have been able to manage other consular cases-

CANNANE: And what about future military operations near Australian waters?

MARLES: Well, the point I would make there is that our bedrock and when we're thinking about this has to be international law, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. And the reason why I say that is because it is much more the case that the Royal Australian Navy is in the vicinity of China than the Chinese Navy is in the vicinity of Australia. You know, we're not trying to establish some standard in the vicinity of Australia which would impede our work with the Royal Australian Navy in the vicinity of China, which is actually much more the case. And we're not there gratuitously. We're there because that's where our sea lines of communication are. That's where we need to be asserting the rules based order and freedom of navigation. And so it is really important that the Royal Australian Navy is able to continue its work there. So, what we seek is that China, in whatever it does, wherever it goes, acts in accordance with international law. When the task, the Chinese Task group was here earlier in the year, it did that. Now we have a right in the same breath to be able to follow it, to surveil it, which is what we did in an unprecedented way. So, we know exactly what that task group was doing. And if they, you know, if that happens again in the future, that's the way in which we will respond. But what matters here is that international law is complied with so that we can continue to do the work that we do near the vicinity of China.

CANNANE: On Tuesday night, China's Premier Li Qiang said in a speech that Chinese businesses are being treated unfairly by Australia because of foreign investment restrictions and that building a non discriminatory business environment should be a goal for both countries. Is Australia running a discriminatory policy on foreign investment when it comes to China?

MARLES: No, it's not. And we want to see an economic relationship which obviously involves trade but does involve investment as well. Clearly there are national security considerations which are brought to bear in terms of any foreign investment in Australia, be it from China or anyone else. And other countries operate in exactly the same way in terms of running a national security, national interest lens over the way in which foreign investment comes into their countries. We do the same and we will continue to do that. That-

CANNANE. So, if the Port of Darwin was under a 99 year lease to an American company, would the Albanese government be pushing to put it back into Australian hands?

MARLES: Well, we would- what we do in terms of all foreign investment is run a national security lens over that foreign investment. Now in terms of the Port of Darwin, we have consistently said that it shouldn't have been sold to that interest when it was by the former Coalition government, that we want to see the Port of Darwin return to Australian hands. And that's the course that we are pursuing now.

CANNANE: On Radio national breakfast it's 20 minutes to 8 o'clock. We're talking to Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. The Financial Times reported on the weekend that US defence official Elbridge Colby had been pressing both Japan and Australia to make commitments to back the US if it went to war with China over Taiwan. That seemed very much like a deliberate leak and it looked like someone working in the administration in the US was trying to undermine Anthony Albanese's trip to China. That must be frustrating to you.

MARLES: Well, I'm not really gonna comment on the speculation that was- that you've described there. I mean this has been a very important visit to China for all the reasons that I've described. But you know, engagement with China matters and what is complex and challenging relationship to manage is benefited from that engagement. And that's really as simple as it gets. And in that sense, you know, I think the visit that Anthony Albanese has had to China has advanced all of that and has been very successful. And I frankly don't think that any of that reporting has impacted it at all.

CANNANE: The Coalition's defence spokesperson, Angus Taylor told 7:30 this week that you can make principled commitments to the security of Taiwan. Could the Albanese government do more to do that?

MARLES: Well, I think the position of the Coalition in relation to all this seems pretty confused and it's obviously not my place to speak on behalf of them. Look, our position in relation to Taiwan is clear: we support the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and we do not support any unilateral changes to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. Now, that's been the very clear and simple position of this government since we came to power. But to be honest, it's been the position, the bipartisan position of Coalition and Labor governments now for a long period of time. Exactly what the coalition is saying in this moment is unclear and obviously that's frankly a matter for them. But this government is going to maintain what has been the position of the Australian government for a very long period of time, and that is to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

CANNANE: Deputy Prime Minister, I just want to bring you to the issue of childcare, an issue that's concerning a lot of parents around the country right now. In the light of the new revelations that the alleged child abuser, Joshua Dale Brown, worked at more centres than it was initially thought. The Education Minister, Jason Clare, has called for a national database of childcare workers and their employment histories. Do we have any details about a timeline and how long it will take for this system to be established?

MARLES: Well, the first point I make is that obviously the, you know, the revelations that have come out have just been utterly appalling. And, you know, I can barely imagine what it would be to be the, you know, the parents of the children who are finding themselves in those circumstances. And we need to be doing everything within our power to clearly make sure that children are safe when they're in the education system, but that children are safe when they're in the childcare system. And that's why we've made clear that we will put in place legislation from next week, over the next couple of weeks to see that their childcare centres, which do not maintain appropriate standards of childcare safety- child safety, I should say, are not funded by the federal government. In terms of the specific questions that you've asked, we will continue to work with state governments around a whole range of areas of law reform. But going to the question of a register, which the Minister has referred to, we think this is a step that would help advance the case of child safety within childcare systems. And we will work with the states to see how we can put that in place in an expeditious way.

CANNANE. So, there's urgency now. Why hasn't there been urgency on this issue before this?

MARLES: Well, you know, I think we are all looking at ways in which we can take this forward and make sure that children are as safe as possible within childcare centres. And, you know, the revelations that we have seen in the last couple of weeks are obviously sickening. And as we continue to learn about how best to do this, we need to be making sure that we are exercising our powers in a way which keep kids safe in childcare. And that's what we're doing.

CANNANE: Richard Marles, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks very much for coming in this morning.

MARLES: Thanks, Steve.

ENDS

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