Television Interview, ABC News Breakfast

SUBJECTS: Shooting in the US; Ghost Shark; Pacific Island Forum; AUKUS; Coalition

BRIDGET BRENNAN, HOST: But first this hour we're joined by the Acting Prime Minister, Richard Marles. Richard Marles, good morning to you.

ACTING PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Good morning, Bridget. How are you?

BRENNAN: I'm well. We've just had some breaking news in from the United States that the conservative commentator Charlie Kirk has been shot dead, according to the US President Donald Trump. I know you may not be up to speed on this story, but is this another concerning event in a widespread really phenomenon of political violence we're seeing around the world?

MARLES: Well, you're right, I've just become aware of this as the news has broken and obviously our thoughts go out to Charlie Kirk's family. There is absolutely no place for political violence. That's the message that we have to take from this. It is a tragic event and we all need to be, and we do condemn political violence. That is not a way in which to resolve arguments and disputes and discussion in society.

BRENNAN: Moving to Defence and security now, Richard Marles. We've announced a significant investment into Ghost Shark and more capability under the sea. What will this mean for Australia?

MARLES: Well, it's a really important capability for our country. This is the highest tech, long range autonomous underwater capability that exists in the world today. And we're really excited about it coming into the Royal Australian Navy. It's a platform which can do a number of tasks, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, but it also has a strike capability. So, this is a lethal capability that we are bringing into service. And the first of these will be in service in January in just a few months time. And it comes after many, many years of developing these three prototypes which have led to the capability that we're actually now able to put into service right now. And this will greatly enhance both our surface fleet, but also our underwater capabilities. In the Royal Australian Navy.

BRENNAN: Will these primarily be used for deterrence? I mean, hopefully that's the case. But what sort of information can you give us about how they would be used in the event of a conflict?

MARLES: Well, we are pretty coy about our underwater capabilities. I mean, what defines the benefit of having underwater capability with a submarine or something such as this, is stealth. And so inevitably we don't talk a lot about what they can do. But I think the way to think about this is that when we undertook the Defence Strategic Review, what it really found was that we needed capabilities which can project. I mean our strategic challenge is to, for the peace and security of the region in which we live to provide pause for thought for any adversary which might seek to coerce us. And we think they're particularly around interrupting sea lines of communication to Australia. All of that exists a long way beyond our shores. And so, having capabilities which can get out there and provide that is really important and Ghost Shark is going to be an absolutely critical component in addition to those capabilities.

BRENNAN: Just speaking about AUKUS for a moment, your former colleague Doug Cameron gave a speech last night accusing the government of deserting its principles and values and ceding sovereignty to the United States. In reference to the deal, what are your reactions to those comments?

MARLES: Well, I mean what AUKUS is doing is providing technical technology and capability for the Australian Defence Force. I mean in having a, a future long range submarine capability which is the number one objective of AUKUS, that's actually building Australia's sovereign capability by having a more capable defence force, one that is able to defend our nation- we build our sovereignty is the fact of the matter. And actually you know, Labor has a very proud history throughout- since Federation- of bringing to bear capabilities for our defence force. Increasing our defence force and that's because we having a strong defence force, having strong military capabilities is very central to the national project, is actually very central to building sovereignty for our country. And that's what Labor has been about. So, when you take a step back and look at what we're trying to do here, it's building Australian capability and that is at the heart of sovereignty.

BRENNAN: Some reports suggest this morning that you're considering a new multimillion dollar security deal with PNG. Can you tell us anything about this and will people from PNG be able to serve in our defence force?

MARLES: Well to answer the last bit first we've been looking at ways in which we can have people from the Pacific serve within the Australian Defence Force. We've opened the Defence Force up now to permanent residents from Five Eyes countries, particularly New Zealand where there are a number of permanent residents who live in Australia to enter the Defence Force. But when we did that we talked about having an eye to the Pacific. And so we are, are looking at ways in which we can make that occur more broadly in terms of PNG. We began negotiations with PNG back in January to update our Defence Cooperation agreements with them. Right now our Status of Forces Agreement is based on one which was struck back in 1977. And so we do need to update that and we had the timeline of seeking to put that in place by PNG independence which is next Tuesday. So, we've been working very closely with PNG to develop this agreement and we look forward to announcing it very shortly.

BRENNAN: Elsewhere in the Pacific, it sounds as though we were not able to strike a deal with Vanuatu. Why did this agreement fall over?

MARLES: Oh, I wouldn't describe it in those terms. I mean we are looking at elevating our relationship with Vanuatu to the next level and in the form of a treaty level agreement. Myself, Pat Conroy, Penny Wong were in Vanuatu last month and we initialled text that will, we hope move towards having that agreement. In fact, when both Prime Ministers when they met in Vanuatu on Tuesday, I think, spoke about having confidence that they would be able to reach this agreement. So, you know, we remain confident that we'll be able to put this agreement in place. What we're trying to do here is, is a big thing and it takes time and so it's not a surprise that, you know, we, we move forward at a particular pace. But we're confident that we will be able to get this agreement done and it will be really important in terms of uplifting the status of our relationship with Vanuatu.

BRENNAN: Just on a separate issue, Richard Marles, would you have sent Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to the backbench over her comments about Australian Indian people here in this country?

MARLES: Well, firstly, the comments were utterly unacceptable, I mean that's really clear. And I want to say from the point of view of the government, we celebrate the Indian-Australian community. I mean what makes us a great country is the diversity of people who now live in Australia and the multicultural nature of our country is what gives us rich heritage, rich culture. There's strength in that diversity. And certainly the Indian-Australian community are making a huge contribution to Australia today and we celebrate that community. Ultimately, what, what happens to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is a matter for the Coalition and I'll leave it to them.

BRENNAN: Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, thanks for your time from Sydney this morning.

MARLES: Thank you.

ENDS