Doorstop interview, Perth

SUBJECTS: Opportunities for local businesses in AUKUS; Drones; Henderson Defence Precinct; Submarine Rotation Force – West; Ukraine; Australia-Israel relationship 

ERIC HOFMANN, HOFMANN ENGINEERING PTY LTD: Welcome to Hofmann Engineering. We’re a family company started by my father John Hofmann in 1969. We’re standing in front of one of the world’s biggest and most accurate gear grinder, and we’re honoured today to have the Minister’s visit, Huntington Ingalls’ visit, and for an exciting NEW announcement that I hope will get a lot more work into Western Australia and Australia. Thank you.

TANIA LAWRENCE, FEDERAL MEMBER FOR HASLUCK: Good morning. I’m Tania Lawrence. I’m the Federal Member for Hasluck for this area, and I thank Eric Hofmann again for welcoming us back here when three generations are with us today who have led this company to be a world standard in fine and precision engineering that is happening right here in Western Australia, supporting not just Defence, but also rail and many other sectors as well. And this just demonstrates the capacity of Australian workers – engineering, innovation that happens right here on our doorstep. And I’m very excited today to be able to have the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles – together with Pat Conroy, the Minister for Defence Industry; and State Minister Paul Papalia, Defence Industries; Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead; and Tim Brown from H&B Defence – who’s supporting Australian companies in the supply chain for defence contracts to really unlock the opportunity that is here within Western Australia to support the defence industry, not only at Henderson, but also around the world. Because the jobs are the future of Australia, especially Western Australia, which is well renowned for our competitive advantage in resources and agriculture, but it’s Defence that is going to be the sector for the jobs of the future. And Western Australians are really in a position, particularly through our pre-TAFE and other opportunities that come from Defence, to be able to capitalise on that and really have fantastic and very secure, well-paid jobs into the future. And to that, I hand over to the Minister.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you. It’s great to be here with Tania Lawrence, who is a passionate advocate on behalf of this community and actually on behalf of this company. And I’d really like to acknowledge John and Eric and thank them both for having us back here again. It is wonderful to be here at Hofmann Engineering. Whenever we come, we have planned a certain amount of time for the visit, we end up staying for about hours longer as we get completely entranced by all that occurs here, because this is an incredible company. It is great also to be here with Pat Conroy, the Minister for Defence Industry, and Paul Papalia, the Western Australian Minister for Defence Industry. In March of this year, we announced that Huntington Ingalls would be undertaking a program on behalf of the Commonwealth Government to pre-qualify Australian companies to contribute into the supply chain in the United States for Virginia Class submarines in the US, but also other platforms within the US military, other platforms that Huntington’s participates in. It was a really important announcement in terms of lifting up the ability for Australian industry to contribute to that supply chain, which, in turn, enables industry in this country to become ready to contribute to our own supply chain as we build and maintain our future submarines in Australia. Within six months, as we are here today, there are now 22 companies within this pipeline, eight of which have now been qualified to supply into the supply chain in the United States. One of those is Hofmann, and in the case of Hofmann, it has now had its first request for a quotation into the US supply-chain for several parts actually to go onto a US aircraft carrier. So this is a really exciting announcement and a really important step forward. It’s demonstrating that Hofmann, right here in Perth, has now been qualified, but also asked to quote to participate into a supply chain to build US aircraft carriers, and this is the first step, the first actually, in the country, of seeing an Australian company being able to participate in that supply chain. Now, Hofmann have an incredible lineage and history supplying into the resources sector here and around the world. Most of what Hofmann builds actually goes beyond our shores, but this is a really important step for this company, but beyond that for our entire industrial base to be contributing into the American supply chain, which gets us ready to build submarines in this country. It is a really exciting step, demonstrating the progress that’s been made in just six months since we announced this program, but also demonstrating that AUKUS is happening. We are acquiring the capability in this country right now to build, maintain and operate a nuclear-powered submarine, and this is a really important step along that path.

PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY: Thank you, Deputy Prime Minister. And as the DPM said, this is a practical manifestation of what AUKUS means for Australia. AUKUS means more jobs for Australians, more jobs for West Australians, and greater safety for the Australian population through the best-equipped Australian Navy possible. And to be here at Hofmann to see the first company being requested to quote for the US supply chain is a tangible example of AUKUS in action. This is part of the $260 million initial investment by the Australian Government to get Australian companies qualified to win work in the United States. We’ve been very public that the first work Australian companies will win on building nuclear-powered submarines will be supporting US and UK builds. That will then train them up and qualify them and build confidence and experience so they can be part of the 20,000 strong workforce building nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines in Australia. So this is a great day for Hofmann Engineering. It’s a great day for West Australian industry. It’s a great day for the AUKUS partnership. Importantly, this is part of the $260 million program. It will allow the US to speed up production of their submarines because they face critical supply constraints. So this is Aussie know-how, Aussie companies helping deliver US submarines faster, which obviously would also help submarines being delivered to Australia as well. And I’ll hand over to Minister Papalia.

PAUL PAPALIA, WA MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRIES: Morning everyone. WA is in the vanguard of lifting Australia’s defence industry. Hofmann is emblematic of what the competitive advantage of the Western Australian industrial landscape is, and that is our industry derived their capabilities and skill sets from meeting the demands of the resources sector – a very demanding sector requiring world-class capability – and our industry meet those demands, develop their skills and capabilities, and then they can apply them to Defence for all of our benefit. Hofmann are the first, but there are many in Western Australia who will do the same thing. It’s extraordinary right now to contemplate that Hofmann are going to be potentially building components for a nuclear aircraft carrier for America. We see our ability right now to get in there and help the US and the British build their defence capabilities at this critical moment. It’s an extraordinary opportunity for our industry. It’s the future of certainty around jobs and in certainty for our industry in terms of ongoing work for multi-generations. It’s an incredible moment in time to witness this happening, and it’s fantastic that it’s happening right here in WA. And I’ve got to say, this program partnership with HII was preceded by one by the West Australian Government. So you guys just copied it. Great idea, and like all great ideas, it should be replicated at all levels.

TIM BROWN, H&B DEFENCE MANAGING DIRECTOR: Good morning. I am Tim Brown from HII Australia and from H&B Defence. It’s a really proud day for us, and as Minister Papalia said, it’s great to see Hofmann at the vanguard of this supply chain uplift program as they spearhead this. We know they’re going to motivate many other Australian companies to do the same and support the Government’s objectives of this industrial mobilisation required for AUKUS, not just for Australia, but for the tripartite UK and US programs as well. This is just the start, and we’ll continue working closely with the Government and the ASA to achieve that strategic objective for the nation. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: What conversations on a state or federal level, has the government made (inaudible)

MARLES: Well, the highest standards of safety are expected across our workplaces, actually, but in terms of all that we do. And we work very closely with every company, including Hofmann in relation to that.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible)

MARLES: Look, AUKUS is very much happening, and this is an example of it. You can look for where things that are actually occurring right now in relation to AUKUS, where we are hitting every milestone that we have committed to- the establishment of the Australian Submarine Agency – we were at Rolls Royce in Derby a year or so ago, there are parts that are being constructed there right now, which will go on the submarines that come off the production line at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide in the early 2040s. The very first steps in the optimal pathway to us acquiring this capability was to see an increased visitation of American nuclear powered submarines to Australia –we are seeing that. And not only are we seeing it, we are seeing it here in Western Australia, with an increased amount of maintenance work, which is being done by Australians on those platforms. And it's the first time that you're seeing non-Americans work on nuclear powered submarines. So at every level, you can see that AUKUS is absolutely happening. What we are seeing in America, in terms of this review, as we've said many times, is a process that we very much welcome, is one that replicates what we did when we came to office back in 2022 one, that the current British Labor government did when they came to office in July of last year. It's natural for an incoming government to want to look at a big defence initiative like this and to understand how they can refine it best in terms of how they go forward. We absolutely understand that, welcome it, and are contributing to it. But in every respect AUKUS is proceeding, and it is proceeding on time. 

JOURNALIST: Is 2032 set in stone for our first boat?

MARLES: We have a treaty level agreement with the United States and with the United Kingdom in relation to acquiring this capability, and a key step in that is Australia acquiring Virginia class submarines in the early 2030s.

JOURNALIST: That requires, though, for the US to lift their game, doesn't it? Because they're having trouble with their own suppliers.

MARLES: Of course, and that's something that was well understood when we announced the optimal pathway back in March of 2023. That's why right now, we are contributing financially to the US industrial base. I mean, we understand the challenges, but actually, when you look at the progress that's being made in the United States in terms of lifting the production rate, it is really impressive. And we stand here today with a real sense of confidence that all those milestones will be achieved. And it's not just the financial contribution we're making, right now there's about 150 Australian workers who are in Pearl Harbor gaining critical experience to build the cohort here that is necessary to sustain and maintain submarines. But on this day, are actually working to get Virginia class submarines out to sea for the US Navy. So, you know, we are working very much on that, and progress is happening, and we're very pleased with that.

JOURNALIST: If that didn't happen, I'm talking about the acquiring of subs- nuclear powered submarines from the US- are you saying that other components that WA – that we push ahead with other components of that nuclear submarines, we have got the rotations in 2027 – what happens with that part of the agreement (inaudible)?

MARLES: Well, we are really confident that each of the steps in the optimal pathway that we have agreed with the United Kingdom and the United States will happen. And there are many elements to them. One of the critical things is to build a capacity in this country, both to maintain and sustain submarines, but also obviously to build them. And they will be built in Adelaide but drawing from a supply chain right across the country. And what we're seeing here at Hofmann's is really so fundamentally important to that. I mean, the significance the announcement today is obviously that it gives Hofmann work in terms of contributing, in this instance, to the building of an aircraft carrier, if their quotation is ultimately successful. But it's the steps being taken there which builds the experience at this facility right here in WA, which enables us to build a supply chain in Australia to build our own submarines. All of that is occurring, and today is a really important step down that path. 

JOURNALIST: Are you concerned that there may be strings attached to the agreement going ahead with the United States states such as exclusive rights to our critical minerals or, and there's been a lot of discussion about the US wanting us to spend more on our defence. What will we have to give up?

MARLES: I come back to what I said earlier; we have a treaty level agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom around the optimal pathway, and there are benefits in that pathway for all three countries. And it's why we have a sense of confidence that this pathway is going to be walked, not just by the current administration, actually across the three countries today, but across successive administrations in the US and the UK and here in Australia for decades to come, because this is a program which makes strategic sense for all three countries. And right now, there is a great benefit to the United States associated with those workers from Australia helping to put submarines out to sea for the US Navy. There's a benefit for the United States in the financial contributions that we are making to their industrial base. But all of that is giving rise to a benefit for us here in Australia, because these are the steps that we need to take in order to build our own capacity in this country, to build submarines,

JOURNALIST: Just on underwater drones. Some critics might say other countries like US, UK, Chinese, even the Ukrainian government, are moving a lot quicker. What's your response to that?

MARLES: I might throw to Pat in a moment, but autonomous warfare- drones in every respect, including undersea- is obviously a focus of our innovation efforts across the defence force. We have seen the nature of warfare change dramatically in Ukraine, and we're really mindful of that, and we are learning the lessons from that, and it is very much informing the way in which we are thinking about what capabilities we need to acquire in this space. One of the really important steps I think, that we took with the Defence Strategic Review is to have a biennial update of our National Defence Strategy every two years, which enables us to fine tune what our strategic settings are, but also what we seek to acquire as against the way in which the world is changing. And this is a really good example of that.

CONROY: Further to the answer from the Deputy Prime Minister, we've allocated over $10 billion to expenditure on drones, counter drone technology and autonomous systems in the maritime environment. We're working through three really exciting programs of different sizes. The one most relevant to your question is around Ghost Shark which is world leading technology in extra-large underwater autonomous vessels. We're making the most advanced Autonomous Underwater vessel in the world, right here in this country. When we came to government in 2022 we put $75 million in, a company in called Anduril put $75 million in. The contract to build three prototypes by the end of 2025, they were delivered a year early on schedule with great capability which has given us so much confidence that we're negotiating right now to enter into full rate production by the end of this year. This is a rapid acquisition that is a future made in Australia. Importantly, it complements our crewed platforms like submarines. The truth is, countries around the world are investing in both crewed and un-crewed systems to work with each other, because they do different things, and they work best together, and that's what we're doing. And another practical manifestation of AUKUS is our AUKUS Pillar II advance technology activities. And during exercise Taliban Sabre, we had a Big Play autonomous exercise where all three nations took our autonomous underwater vessel and worked together off the east coast of Australia. And that was phenomenally successful for proving up this technology. So we're doing both, because that's what the Australian people expect us to do.

JOURNALIST: Just on the Defence precinct at Henderson. Do you have (inaudible)

MARLES: Paul should feel free to comment on this as well. So firstly, it's a very good question. The Henderson defence precinct is really central to walking the pathway to acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability. But it's more significant than that, of course, the Henderson defence precinct is where ultimately we will be building the general purpose frigate when that build transfers to Australia. It’s where, right now, in its beginning form, we're dealing with landing craft medium and landing craft heavy, for amphibious platforms for the Australian Army. We're working very closely with the West Australian government in relation to the development of the precinct. It is an extremely significant step in the process. I mean, ultimately, in the fullness of time, this is a precinct that's going to employ 3,000-4000 people, and we are very happy with the progress that's being made and the way in which we are working with the Western Australian Government on seeing that delivered.

JOURNALIST: What are the timelines?

PAPALIA: Well, the most recent activity was on the 12th of June with the Commonwealth closed a market sounding for funding of the defence precinct. And on the 26th of June, they closed a call for registering of interest for the design. As I understand it, the design selection of the designer will be by the end of the year, and then obviously moving down the path towards delivery. The defence precinct will be the biggest naval maintenance hub in the southern hemisphere. It will represent a huge resource and asset for Australia, but also our allies in the in the region, but for the entire southern hemisphere.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible) 

PAPALIA: That's the other thing with regard to AUKUS being on track, there's an optimal pathway for acquisition of nuclear submarines- we're on that pathway, and we're on target. So we did the very first ever tender maintenance period for a nuclear submarine in Australia last year. There is going to be another one this year, there'll be more next year. There are right now, I was at the Submarine Institute of Australia conference here in Perth yesterday, the Deputy Chief of Navy said there isn't a Virginia class submarine in the Indian Ocean, or Indian or Pacific Oceans, a US Navy Virginia class, there isn't one without an Australian embedded in the crew. Our people are learning alongside the Americans and the British, they're in the Royal Navy as well, learning the skills of operating nuclear submarines, including engineers learning to be in total control of the nuclear reactors. And we have people, as you heard from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Industries, there are people right now in the States and in the UK, as well training to be able to sustain and maintain nuclear submarines. We're on target–

JOURNALIST: Rotations, 2027?

PAPALIA: Absolutely, the Submarine Rotation Force West commences in 2027. There'll be four Virginia- US Virginia class submarines and one British astute class submarine forward operating from HMAS Stirling in 2027.

JOURNALIST: The Maritime Union expressed some concern both the placement of (inaudible). Does that cause any concern? 

PAPALIA: Look, I've met with the MUA guys. Their focus is on more on an alternative container port than on the defence activity. Reality is, wherever you go around the world, where there are naval bases in close proximity, there'll be maritime container ports or other civilian ports, that's just the nature of oceans. On the edge of an ocean, you have ports and navy uses them in much the same way.

JOURNALIST: A question from Canberra, why hasn't the federal government promised any military weapons and equipment to Ukraine this year, despite repeated requests. And the second part is, will you meet with visiting Ukrainian officials to consider their requests, and can you give them any promises?

MARLES: Well, firstly, we are in really constant communication with the Government of Ukraine about how we can best support Ukraine. The- and you know, my counterpart Minister Umerov is somebody who I do have frequent contact with, and we will always meet with representatives of the Ukrainian government. I want to make really clear that there is a very close relationship between ourselves and the Ukrainian government. I mean, this year, we've made successive announcements about the way in which we are contributing to the conflict in Ukraine. We are now seeing the first, and the largest tranche of the Abrams tanks in the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We've announced another rotation of our E-7 aircraft which will be operating out of Poland, and that is a detachment which has with it more than 100 personnel. We've announced an extension of Operation kudu, which feeds into the operation Interflex, the training of personnel for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Great Britain, and we've announced that we've extended that through till the end of next year. And we continue to talk with Ukraine about how we can contribute, and of course, we've also made clear our willingness to be a part of the Coalition of the Willing when we're talking about whenever, one hopes, that there is an opportunity for peace in Ukraine, and we are participating in that process as well, and the Prime Minister was on a call in respect of that in the last couple of days. So you know, we are very much engaged with Ukraine, and we continue to work closely with them, and we do so on the basis that we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes for this conflict to be resolved on Ukraine’s terms.

JOURNALIST: Trump has said that it's not his intention to use US troops, boots on the ground in Ukraine as peacekeepers. Does that give Australia pause to consider its involvement with peacekeepers? 

MARLES: We've made really clear from the outset in our conversations with our partners within NATO, that Australia is willing to consider participation on, when that moment arrives and that moment has not arrived, there is right now needs to be a focus on trying to achieve a peace in Ukraine, but a peace which is very much on Ukraine's terms. But we have made clear that we are willing to be a part of the Coalition of the Willing, and we continue to participate in those meetings. And as I said, the Prime Minister has done that in the last few days.

JOURNALIST: One more question, the comments that were made about our Prime Minister from the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, is our– are you, is our relationship between you know, calling him a weak politician to quote Israel and abandon Australian Jews, is our relationship now with Israel completely broken? Is it retrievable, can we come back from that? Because at the moment, you have to say our relationship with Israel is probably at an all-time low.

MARLES: Well, the last thing I'm going to do is get into some kind of tit-for-tat commentary. I mean, let me be really clear; we seek to be friends with Israel, and we have throughout Israel's existence. We have made the decision that we've made in respect of the recognition of a Palestinian state, we've done so entirely consistently with the position that's been held by successive Australian Governments in pursuit of a two state solution, and we've done so in concert with likeminded countries around the world, where we stand with countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, France. So that is all that we have done. Now the decision that we saw from Israel yesterday in relation to the visas of certain Australian diplomats we regard as being an unreasonable reaction and an unjustified reaction to the decisions that Australia has made. But we continue to move forward on a principled basis, we do so wanting to see an end to the hostilities in Gaza, wanting to see humanitarian assistance flow to what is a catastrophic humanitarian situation within Gaza, but also, of course, to see a return of the hostages to their loved ones in Israel. And we've been making that really clear, as we have around the issues which need to be considered in the context of recognition. I mentioned the hostages, no role for Hamas reform of the Palestinian Authority, and that is a conversation that has been had between our Prime Minister and Mahmoud Abbas. Now we move forward with likeminded countries around the world. We do so in a sober, considered, principled way, and that is the way in which we will continue to do so. We would do that from a fundamental position of wanting to be friends with Israel.

ENDS