Television Interview, Sky News First Edition

SUBJECTS: Middle East Conflict; Superannuation; Annual Cyber Threat Report. 

PETE STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well, it has been a momentous day out of the Middle East for a variety of reasons. Joining us live to discuss this and much more is the Acting Prime Minister, Richard Marles. Good to see you this morning, Richard. Thank you so much. So, let's start off with your reaction to the news overnight – not just the release of the remaining hostages, but also Donald Trump's achievement in bringing an end to this war.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, Pete, to be frank, it is an incredible achievement on the part of Donald Trump and it is one that is very much going to be remembered by history. This is an extraordinary day. It's obviously a wonderful day. You know, over the last two years and more, we have seen just an appalling tragedy play out in the Middle East. I think it's all gone to places that none of us expected. We've seen a massive loss of life. And for the hostages who have been released in the last 24 hours, more than two years being spent as hostages. And so to see them released and returned to their loved ones, to see an end to those hostilities, to see the possibility now of Gaza being reconstructed – to see all of this over, is just a momentous day and there is no doubt that President Trump deserves an enormous amount of credit for having made this achievement.

STEFANOVIC: Are you convinced the war is over?

MARLES: I'm convinced of the scenes that we are seeing. I mean, the hostages have been returned and the hostilities have ceased– 

STEFANOVIC: Some trepidation there, Richard?

MARLES: I mean, it's really important that there is now– people stick to the terms of the Trump plan. President Trump's plan brings the war to an end and it's really important that all parties abide by that. And I think what we now need to see is that this is a moment which, given everything that we have witnessed over the last two years, actually is the point at which we see the beginning of an enduring peace in the Middle East. And obviously that occurs by virtue of having a two state solution. And, you know, President Trump's plan does provide for a Palestinian polity and for the governance of that, obviously, in terms where Hamas has no role. It is really important now that we are seeing this as the moment of there being an enduring peace.

STEFANOVIC: What will Australia's role be in that moving forward? When we're talking about the next phase, would you commit troops, peacekeeping troops?

MARLES: Look, I don't think we're in that world yet, Pete. I mean, there's been no requests of– 

STEFANOVIC: We might have lost the audio there of Richard Marles. I might just try one more, Richard, I know you were speaking. We're just going to try and work this out because that was an important answer to your question. Should I just keep talking to see if you can hear me? He's back.

MARLES: Yeah, I can hear you. I don’t know if you can hear me?

STEFANOVIC: I apologise. We lost you for about 30 seconds there, but you're back now. I can hear you. So, just back that up again, if you wouldn't mind. You were talking about Australia's potential involvement. 

MARLES: Yeah, look, I don't think we're– I wouldn't be in the world of speculating about what we would do in the future. There certainly been no request on us in respect of any particular role. We want to be as constructive as we can be and that's how we've sought to be over the last two years. I mean, this is– we will do what we can in a constructive way. But as I say, there have been no requests of us in relation to this.

STEFANOVIC: If that comes though, would you be open to it? If a request comes?

MARLES: Well, look, I mean, obviously we consider any request that comes to us, but I don't really want to speculate on this beyond that. But we seek to be as constructive as we can be.

STEFANOVIC: Did we have representation at the peace summit in Sharm el Sheikh?

MARLES: Look, no. This is principally a summit between regional leaders in the Middle East, the Arab world and European leaders.

STEFANOVIC: I mean, there was a whole bunch of leaders who were there today and I know much was made about our declaration of the state of Palestine, which Penny Wong said last week played a role at the war's end. Should we not have been there?

MARLES: Look, this is, as I say, a gathering of regional leaders, of European leaders – that’s where the focus of this is and I think that's pretty understandable. The steps that we've taken– our international voice is clearly relevant and we've worked with like minded countries in terms of exercising that voice, countries like the United Kingdom and Canada. And the recognition of Palestine is one of the steps that we took along the way and we explained that at the time. And we did so on the basis that a two state solution, we believe, is the only way you have an enduring peace and it's why that's been bipartisan policy in this country for a long time, and we were giving expression to that.

STEFANOVIC: All right, let's get to some local issues, Richard. Jim Chalmers forced to capitulate over his super tax proposal. Did you know when I was talking to you about it, did you know that you were defending a bad policy?

MARLES: Well firstly, I don't accept the way you've characterised that at all. We started this in terms of trying to make superannuation more sustainable. Superannuation is about retirement incomes. It's a system which is the envy of the world. It's not, in a sense, an investment vehicle as its primary purpose. It really is about trying to be a safe– a nest egg for retirement incomes. Now, that's what we have been seeking to put in place from the outset. We've listened to all the feedback that's come to us in relation to the proposals that we put in place and we found a better way to do that. And that's what the Treasurer announced yesterday. And it's– he’s doing what good governments do and that is listen to feedback as it comes in, have your objective in mind, which is to make the superannuation system more sustainable, which is what we're doing and putting in place the best system you can put in place. 

STEFANOVIC: He was pretty strident though. For two years, he was pretty strident on not making any changes. Was he rolled by the Prime Minister?

MARLES: No. This was an exercise of listening to feedback, which we've been doing through the course of the election, but since the election, the roundtable and the like. And we want to make sure that we are putting in place the best system possible while achieving the objective that remains unchanged. That objective is to have a sustainable superannuation system. We're continuing to do that. But this is a better way of achieving it, and that's what was outlined by the Treasurer yesterday.

STEFANOVIC: It's going to create Budget pressure, no doubt. Where are you going to find that extra cash?

MARLES: I mean, to put it in context, we are delaying this by a year and that's the, you know, the most significant impact on the Budget. But if you look down the track, in [20]28-29, for example, when both systems are in – you know, where you can do a comparison, if you like, of one system versus the other, I mean, what we had in place would have raised a bit over two and a half [billion dollars], this will rise a bit over $2 billion. So, yes, it's slightly smaller in terms of the amount that it's raising, but fundamentally it's doing what we set out to achieve, and that's to make the superannuation system more sustainable. And we will continue to manage the Budget in a prudent way, and what that has seen is a significant reduction of debt since we've come to power.

STEFANOVIC: Have you got to kind of smile through gritted teeth over this backflip?

MARLES: Well, I don't really know what that question means, what I think this represents–

STEFANOVIC: I'm just saying, you've got to try and put a positive spin on it. But it's a pretty big backflip in the end.

MARLES: Again, I don't accept that, Pete. I mean, what we're trying to do is make the superannuation system more sustainable. We're continuing to do that. So, the fundamental objective here is being met. We're doing it in a better way. And I think listening to feedback, incorporating it into your plans. That's what good governments do. And I think that this is an exercise of being the government we want to be; one which does have clear objectives, but one which is responsive to what the Australian people are saying. And I think that's what the Treasurer demonstrated yesterday.

STEFANOVIC: Richard, let's just close out on your thoughts on this new data that's come out today from the Signals Directorate, which reveals significant losses due to cybercrime. I mean, what are your thoughts on that and how to combat that? Does that need extra funding?

MARLES: Well, it is getting extra funding, is the answer to that question. I mean, we are through REDSPICE, which is the project for lifting our cyber capabilities, we're pretty well doubling the size of the Australian Signals Directorate. But the Cyber Threat Report, the Annual Cyber Threat report has come out. What it's showing is that ASD gets a call every six minutes. We've responded to 1,200 incidents during the last financial year, that's an increase of 11 per cent. But the really dramatic increase is the cost of each of these incidents from. For large businesses, the cost of each attack has more than tripled and that describes the impact this is having on our economy. So, today our messages are very much directed to businesses. You've got to– there’s really four points: you’ve got to make sure that you have good logging software. Logs are the way in which we track IT activity and that's how we determine where breaches have occurred. It's really important that you don't have old IT systems in place. Legacy IT systems are the gateways for cyber criminals. You’ve got to be working with your third parties to make sure that they are not a gateway into your systems, contractors and the like. And the final point is we are a few years away from seeing quantum computing, much more powerful computers which can break today's encryption methods, but you can start getting ready for that now. There are products out there with modern algorithms which will be able to protect against that high powered computing of the future. And it's really important to get on board with that today.

STEFANOVIC: That's the Acting Prime Minister joining us live there, Richard Marles.

ENDS