Television Interview, ABC, Afternoon Briefing

SUBJECTS: ADF Training Incident in Townsville; US-Australia relationship; Critical Minerals

MELISSA CLARKE, HOST: Let’s go straight to our first guest, the Acting Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, who joins us from Sydney. Welcome to the program.

RICHARD MARLES, ACTING PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Melissa.

CLARKE: What do we know about the circumstances of this crash in Townsville? What update can you give us?

MARLES: Well, this incident occurred yesterday evening at about 6:30 p.m. local time. It involved an M113 infantry-fighting vehicle. There were three personnel on board. The other two were taken to hospital and have since been released. But this incident tragically involved the fatality of this soldier. And you’ve just heard the words of Brigadier McLennan then — this is a huge loss for this soldier’s unit, for 3rd Brigade at Lavarack, for the defence community and, in truth, for the nation. Because this is a young man who had provided a life of service in the Australian Army, who had served with distinction, who was a leader amongst his peers. It is a reminder that the work that the men and women of our Defence Force do each and every day, in readying themselves for the very difficult job they are tasked to do, comes with danger. This is very much a reminder of that, and this soldier’s sacrifice is very much in our nation’s name.

CLARKE: Absolutely, and a real reminder, as you say, of the risks faced every day. We’ll keep in touch because I know this is obviously just unfolding today, so I’m sure we’ll learn more about the soldier in the future. At this point, let’s turn to some of the other issues that you’re dealing with as Defence Minister and Acting Prime Minister. There’s a lot of attention, obviously, on the Australia-US relationship, particularly with the Prime Minister looking to head to the US next week. Through the last couple of weeks and months, there’s been a lot of debate around the level of defence spending between the US and Australia. Donald Trump seems less focused on that now than he was a few months ago. Is that how you see it?

MARLES: Well, look, as I’ve been engaging with the US administration since the moment that the Trump administration was inaugurated, there’s been a very positive relationship in respect of defence and in respect of the cooperation that both of our nations are undertaking in relation to defence. I mean, if you look at AUKUS, all the milestones that need to be met are being met on time. This is a project that is happening at pace and involves deep cooperation.

CLARKE: Do you think you’ve been able to assuage some of the concerns that the US had been raising about Australia’s defence spending? Because they seem to be raising it less now. So, have your arguments been persuasive to them?

MARLES: Well, look, I mean, I know there’s been a lot of media commentary about all this, but to be honest, in all the conversations that I’ve had with my counterpart Pete Hegseth, with the now Acting National Security Adviser Secretary Rubio, with the Vice President, Vice President Vance, there is a good story to tell about what we are doing in terms of building Australian defence capability. That’s first and foremost how we see it. It’s really about looking at what capabilities we need and resourcing them, and the Prime Minister is very clear on that. But what that’s resulted in is the biggest peacetime increase in Australia’s defence spending in our nation’s history. Relative to what we inherited, it’s an additional $70 billion over the decade, and that’s a substantial increase in our defence spending. Now, I make that point, and it’s one which is well understood. But it’s also understood that we’re like-minded countries, we share values, we want to see the rules-based order applying in the Indo-Pacific and around the world. There is much that we have to do together to ensure that, and so all of our conversations are very much focused on the shared task that we have before us. Actually, that has all been going very well.

CLARKE: One of the shared tasks, it seems, will be the two countries working together on critical minerals. We’ve seen an escalation in recent days of disputes between China and the US on the supply of critical minerals. We’ve seen the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Besant, saying he wants a group response to that. Does Australia want to work as a group with many countries, or does Australia want a bilateral deal with the US on critical minerals?

MARLES: Well, I think the way to think about this is that critical minerals represent a real opportunity for the Australian economy and for Australian industry. We have critical minerals here – firstly, we have the resource, and we have a fantastic mining industry that has the capability and is extracting that resource. What we need to see more of – and we see some of it today – is downstream processing of that resource and the production of these metals and minerals. That’s an industry we’re seeking to build. We feel there’s a lot of opportunity for us to be working with the United States to build that industry – but not just the US. This was something that was spoken about when the Prime Minister was in the UK, when he was speaking with the UK Prime Minister. Fundamentally, what we want to do is see much greater Australian industry evolve around the critical minerals sector. That’s a project we will continue to work on, and we do see it as a key part of our economic relationship with the United States.

CLARKE: We’ve seen America say that it wants countries to decouple from the Chinese economy when it comes to things like critical minerals, and Scott Besant has raised that in relation to critical minerals. So, is that a factor the Government would be willing to consider in looking at setting up a deal with the US on critical minerals?

MARLES: Well, I don’t want to pre-empt what’s going to happen in terms of any conversations between our leaders, but it’s to state the obvious that the vast bulk of downstream processing that occurs in respect of critical minerals today happens in China. It’s why we think there’s a real opportunity for Australia to be in this sector — in the downstream processing of critical minerals. I think that’s going to be in the interests of many countries around the world — in fact, the globe in general – to have more sources of refinement.

CLARKE: Indeed, indeed. But my question was more about the specifics of what the US Treasury Secretary has been asking. He’s saying that if China wants to be an unreliable partner to the world, the world will have to decouple. Would Australia be willing to consider decoupling from our biggest trading partner to follow the form that the US is looking for?

MARLES: Well, look, I mean, we very much understand the argument that’s being made here, and we are very much proponents for building industry beyond China. We are proponents for building Australian industry in this sector, and that’s our focus. There are Australian companies doing that right now. But we do think there’s opportunity to work with the US on this — and not just the US, but also the UK. It’s a really significant part of our economic relationship today with the United States.

CLARKE: How much broader with other countries? Because you’ve mentioned only the US and UK, but the US is talking about working with G7 countries and other Asian nations — clearly looking much more broadly than the narrower scope that you seem to be suggesting is on Australia’s mind.

MARLES: Well, again, we see opportunity to work with other countries around the world. There are other downstream facilities that are Australian-owned today, which are in other countries such as Malaysia. But I think the fundamental point here is we see there’s opportunity — and indeed a need – to diversify the range of production and refinement activities beyond China. That’s a project we want to be part of, given that so many of these raw materials are extracted from Australia in the first place.

CLARKE: To be clear, diversify from China, but not decouple?

MARLES: At the end of the day, it’s about building Australian industry, and it’s obviously about acting in the Australian interest. The fact of the matter is that right now, so much of the processing of this is done in China — processing from minerals extracted right around the world. So, we understand the reality of the market today, but we see opportunities here, and we’re focused on trying to move down that path and build Australian industry.

CLARKE: Look, can I just ask you one more question before we let you go? We’re getting information just coming through now that the vehicles involved in this accident up in North Queensland have been taken out of service for this point. Is there any further information you can give us about that?

MARLES: Yes, so the fleet of M113s has been grounded at this moment. We believe that’s the prudent step to take until we better understand what has occurred here. Now, I’d emphasise that we’ve been operating this fleet for a very long period of time, and of course this fleet is going to be transitioned into the Redbacks – the new infantry fighting vehicles currently being constructed and starting to enter service within the Australian Army. But having said that, there will be an ongoing life for the M113 in terms of that transition. In this moment, we have suspended or grounded the fleet of M113s until we have a better understanding of exactly what’s occurred here.

CLARKE: All right. Well, thank you for that update and also for your thoughts on the situation with the US. Thank you very much for your time this afternoon, Richard Marles.

MARLES: Thanks, Melissa