Radio Interview, ABC National Breakfast

SUBJECTS: US Visit; AUKUS; Defence Spending; Statement of Intent on Guided Weapons; Middle East.

SALLY SARA: The long-awaited meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump is now just days away, and there's much preparation underway for the high level talks in Washington DC. A lot of the focus is on the AUKUS pact which is currently being reviewed by the Pentagon. 

Pat Conroy is the Minister for Defence Industry. He's already in Washington DC meeting senior officials from the Trump Administration, members of Congress and key defence and industry officials and leaders. 

Pat Conroy, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast. 

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY PAT CONROY: Thanks for having me, Sally. 

SALLY SARA: What's the purpose of this trip? Who have you met so far in Washington? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I've met senior officials of the Trump Administration, including the Secretaries of the Air Force and Navy and the Commandant of the Coast Guard. I've also been meeting with senior congressional leaders as well as key leaders of the defence industry. So it's a trip covering both defence industry cooperation, AUKUS, as well as setting out our policies in the Pacific and explaining our approach there. 

SALLY SARA: Have you had any assurances from any of these officials regarding the future of AUKUS? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I haven't been asking for it because we're giving space to the Trump Administration to do their review just like we conducted our review, as did the Starmer Government. 

But there's a lot of enthusiasm for AUKUS in the United States, particularly at a congressional level, and every congressional leader I've met with has been very strong in support for AUKUS, and as a co-equal branch of the government I think that's very encouraging. 

I also briefed the Secretary of the US Navy on our progress of implementing AUKUS, particularly getting ready for Submarine Rotation Force West and our work to get our defence industry up to speed. 

So there's general support for it, but we're just giving space to that review. 

SALLY SARA: So you haven't been seeking assurances at all on the future of AUKUS? 

MINISTER CONROY: No, it's important to respect their process, but I am confident that AUKUS is in the national interest of all three countries. I've been explaining how a Submarine Rotation Force West, for example, provides 1,800 maintenance days to the US Navy submarine fleet, which is equivalent of freeing up two to three submarine deployments each year. So people understand the importance and the benefit of it. 

SALLY SARA: And what's the timeline here? Will you - will Australians know the future of AUKUS by the time the Prime Minister meets with the US President next week? 

MINISTER CONROY: The timeline is set by the US Government, so it's not for me to comment on that. We've obviously had positive commentary on AUKUS from people including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Secretary Hegseth from the Department of War, so they've made earlier positive public commentary, but we'll just let the review go through. 

But it is in their national interest, as it is in the national interest of Australia and the United Kingdom. It will lead to a safer and more peaceful Indo-Pacific by having more nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines deterring conflict in our region. 

SALLY SARA: So is it possible that the Prime Minister will undertake this visit to the US to meet with the US President and come home with no assurances about the future of AUKUS? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I'm not going to speculate on the timelines of the US side, but the trip by Prime Minister Albanese is much bigger than AUKUS. As important as AUKUS is, it's about continuing the conversations he's had with President Trump through other fora, and really just re-emphasising the strength of the Australian-US alliance. 

So I wouldn't see it purely through AUKUS. I'm sure it may come up in conversation, but I think it would be a mistake to just sort of simplify the relationship to AUKUS by itself. 

SALLY SARA: So what would a successful visit by the Prime Minister look like? 

MINISTER CONROY: Oh, look, I'm going to leave the commentary about that to commentators, I'm not a commentator, but there's a huge enthusiasm for the alliance with Australia, there's huge enthusiasm in deepening our industrial collaboration, that's why I announced the statement of intent around co‑production for missiles in Australia, obviously the strong interest in what we're doing around rare earths and critical minerals. 

So I think our relationship is much broader than AUKUS, and we've got to really just get on with working together to deepen that relationship for a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific. 

SALLY SARA: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast, and my guest is Pat Conroy, the Minister for Defence Industry. Earlier this year the US War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, told the Defence Minister that Australia should increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of Australia's GDP. In your meetings with US officials have they been urging Australia to increase defence spending further? 

MINISTER CONROY: We've discussed defence spending, and I've explained our approach, which, firstly, is based on the fact that we are increasing defence funding. We're overseeing the largest increase in defence funding outside of war in the history of the country, and secondly, we've also been explaining that using the NATO methodology, which is the preferred methodology to compare these things, we're already at 2.8 per cent of GDP before all our increases kick in. 

So put that into context, that's bigger than anyone in Europe, other than Poland and the Baltic States, it's bigger than the United Kingdom, and it's larger than any of the other Indo-Pacific partners, and as importantly, I've been explaining what we're doing to modernise the Australian Defence Force and modernise our industrial base. 

So defence spending is an important part of the discussion, but it's just one part of a broader discussion about how we're deepening our cooperation. 

SALLY SARA: Have you received any pushback from US officials regarding Australia's position on recognition of a Palestinian State? 

MINISTER CONROY: No, not at all, I can truthfully say no one has raised it with me as an issue. 

SALLY SARA: The Federal Government has also done a recent spending spree with the purchase of the so-called Ghost Shark submarine platform. Have US officials requested any more purchases? 

MINISTER CONROY: They've been interested in what we've been doing there. They've got their own autonomous under water vessel programs, particularly the ORCA, with Boeing, but they've been interested in what we've been doing in autonomous vessels, both the Ghost Shark and the Ghost Bat, and it's fair to say, without being too boastful, that Australia's leading the world in these technologies, we're putting real skin in the game and we're moving at speed. 

The first investment by the Australian Navy in Anduril in Ghost Shark was in the middle of 2022 for three prototypes, and they were delivered a year ahead of schedule and on budget, and we're so confident we're moving into full rate production, which will commence in January of next year. 

So they've been impressed with the speed of it, they've been impressed with the capability, and we're really focused on explaining how we're contributing to deterrence in the Indo-Pacific by investing in a stronger Royal Australian Navy. 

SALLY SARA: While you've been in the US, you've announced progress towards co‑production of guided weapons with the US. What sort of missiles will Australia make, and when will we see them roll off production lines? 

MINISTER CONROY: We'll begin production of the guided multiple launch rocket system GMLRS by the end of the year. The first missile we will begin manufacturing by the end of the year, which is light speed compared to what we inherited from the Coalition in government who only produced two things, and that was two media releases. We will have our first missile begin manufacturing by the end of the year. 

We're also building a factory to produce Naval Strike Missiles and Joint Strike Missiles with Kongsberg Defence Australia, and the plan is to have two missile factories built in this country, producing missiles, and producing them at levels beyond what we need, and that's to contribute to both supply chains for allies and partners like the United States, and other interested and like‑minded countries. 

So this is a real step up in our capability. This is about investing in long-range strike for the Australian Defence Force, and giving us real supply chain sovereignty and self-reliance. By making these missiles in our country we're less reliant on global supply chains, we grow hundreds of high-skilled well‑paid jobs as well as having the potential to contribute to co-production for allies like the United States. It's a really good news story for manufacturing sovereignty and self-reliance. 

SALLY SARA: Will those missiles be available for purchase by Israel? 

MINISTER CONROY: I'd make a couple of points there. Anything we produce will be governed by our strict export controls regime, and secondly, we've not sold weapons or weapon componentry or ammunition to Israel over the last five years. So anything we produce will be sold on our strict export control regime, and we haven't produced weapons or ammunition to be sent to Israel over the last five years. 

SALLY SARA: But if these missiles are going into a global supply chain, can you guarantee that they won't be sold to Israel? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I'm hesitant to get involved in hypotheticals about what would happen once we get the production line running, but anything we produce is governed by our export controls, so we always know the end user of our products. So if we sell a missile to the United States it's for use by the United States. If we sell a missile for provision to Ukraine, hypothetically, we know it's going to Ukraine. 

That's the whole point of the export control regime, and I just refer you back to our track record, which is we have not exported weapons or ammunition to Israel for the last five years. 

SALLY SARA: What's the Federal Government's response to video that has emerged from Gaza showing alleged Hamas fighters publicly executing several men? 

MINISTER CONROY: Oh, we're obviously horrified by continuing violence. We call for all parties to observe the conditions of the ceasefire as the first important step on the way to a long-term peace that is based on a just, enduring two-state solution. So we would really call on all parties to respect the terms of the plan. 

SALLY SARA: Is this a danger of Palestinian statehood, the future presence of Hamas? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we made it very clear our conditions for support for Palestinian statehood, that include the fact that Hamas must have no role in it, that there would be reforms to the Palestinian authority, and that it would be demilitarised, that's been our conditions and our position from day one, and we'll continue to stick to that. 

SALLY SARA: Does Australia have any ability to enforce the removal of Hamas from leadership positions in Gaza? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we're part of global efforts to support a two state solution, and those efforts have a range of ways of being delivered, but we're also very realistic about our role in this. As the Prime Minister has said, we're a small but important voice in this, and we'll continue to use that based on our values and our commitment to a peaceful and enduring two‑state solution based on respect for the sovereignty and safety of both Israel and Palestine. 

SALLY SARA: Minister, thank you for your time on Radio National Breakfast this morning. 

MINISTER CONROY: Thanks Sally, have a great morning. 

SALLY SARA: Pat Conroy is the Minister for Defence Industry.

ENDS