Television Interview, Sky News, Afternoon Agenda

SUBJECTS: ADF training incident in Townsville; Critical Minerals; AUKUS; Defence honours and awards. 

TOM CONNELL, HOST: An Australian soldier has died in a vehicle rollover, which also injured two others at a military training base outside Townsville. Joining me live from Sydney is the Acting Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles. Thanks for your time. What can you tell us about this tragic accident?

RICHARD MARLES, ACTING PRIME MINISTER: Well, Tom, it is a tragedy. At about 6:30 local time last night there was an accident involving an M113 infantry fighting vehicle in the training range, as you've described. There were three personnel on board; two were injured and transferred to hospital and have since been released but tragically, one person lost their life, one soldier lost his life in this accident. I think what this highlights is that the work that we ask our servicemen and women to do each and every day carries risk. This is a dangerous job and they need to prepare to do the very difficult task we ask our Defence Force to do. And in the process, they do put themselves in harm's way; day in, day out. It's a reminder of that. And this particular soldier, it is a tragedy that he has lost his life. It is a sacrifice very much in the name of our nation, and he will be sorely missed by his unit. Right now, you know, Defence is wrapping its arms around his family and, of course, his unit in Townsville.

CONNELL: Yeah, thoughts with his family in particular and those involved at a very traumatic time, no doubt. China, it's seeking to ramp up control of rare earths and critical minerals. It could gain effective control of basically the whole global supply chain. This is a warning from the US. Does this concern you, this move from the Chinese government?

MARLES: Well, I mean, this is a situation that we've been well aware of for a long time. We have many rare earths in Australia in terms of a natural resource and in fact, there's quite a lot of extraction and mining of that. But when it comes to the processing of that; the downstream refining and production, the vast bulk of that does occur in China. And so it's really where we do see that there is an enormous opportunity for Australia to be getting in more of the downstream business of this. And this is a great opportunity for Australian industry. We're very keen to try and pursue that. We do see that there are opportunities to work with partners like the United States. But not just the US, the UK as well and elsewhere to try and build that industry. And I think finding other sources of production and refinement beyond China does provide choice. I think that's good for the global market.

CONNELL: So, talk of a potential deal, if you like, or shoring up of AUKUS to do with access to our rare earths. Would that have to involve, or will it involve us processing more so we're getting our own sovereignty, not just shipping more rare earths off?

MARLES: Well, I wouldn't necessarily link it with AUKUS. I mean, we really see this in broader economic terms. I mean, it's absolutely true that some of the uses of the rare earths and critical minerals do occur in a military context, but there are uses beyond the military as well. I mean, these are really important ingredients, products for a range of items that we use in the modern world. Look, we see this as being, fundamentally, an opportunity for Australia. It's something we've been talking about really since we've come to power and we do think that there is an opportunity to work with the US. 

CONNELL: When you say opportunity though, does that mean in the short term making sure there's a much bigger industry of processing rather than waiting for it to happen? Because this really needs to get going now, doesn't it? And that might need some government intervention?

MARLES: Yeah, I mean, it is looking at how we as government – and if we're working with other countries, how we can across governments, if you like – work to support the building of these industries. Now, you know, there's lots of ways that can occur and I don't want to preempt any of that, but it really is seeing that this is a very important opportunity for Australia, a really important industry for us to be a part of. One that's obviously natural given that the raw product is being extracted from Australia in the first place. And one which if we can do this and develop alternative sources of supply, is ultimately good for the global market.

CONNELL: We've got Anthony Albanese meeting Donald Trump next week. You've been glowing in terms of your assessment of the relationship between the two countries ahead of that meeting. So, does that mean you have no doubt after this meeting that AUKUS will continue on and there won't be any conditions at all placed on AUKUS? The agreement stays as is because the relationship's strong?

MARLES: Well, the relationship is strong and, you know, I keep repeating this, but will continue to repeat it; the relationship is strong. AUKUS is underpinned by a trilateral treaty between the US, the UK and Australia, and we're all committed to that. We have been working at a pace to see the nuts and bolts of AUKUS actually happen and we've been meeting all the milestones that have been put in front of us. Look, this is a big project and one that will evolve and I think looking at how we can do things better is going to be a continual process over the decades that AUKUS rolls out. And in that context we see the review that's been undertaken by the United States as a positive step because it does offer the opportunity to have a good look at AUKUS and see whether there are ways in which we can do this better. And we're very much open minded about that. So, you know, we welcome the review, we've been participating in it, but we're going full steam ahead with AUKUS, as is the US, as is the UK and the relationship is strong in respect of that.

CONNELL: And as to how we maintain sovereignty within that, so, would any AUKUS subs that we lease be entirely in Australian control for all of that lease? Do you see that as a non‑negotiable?

MARLES: Well, Australian sovereignty is obviously a non‑negotiable and that was a key part of the optimal pathway which was announced back in March of 2023, and it's a key part of what is contained within the treaty that our three countries have signed. So, that's always been the case. That said, we obviously work really closely with the United States–

CONNELL: And you'd never negotiate on that? On those being in our control entirely in that leasing situation?

MARLES: Well, Australian sovereignty over Australian capabilities is profoundly important and it is utterly central to the way in which we have engaged in our national security policy. But to be fair, it's been utterly central to the way in which Australian governments have operated in respect of our defence forces forever. And so none of that's going to change–

CONNELL: That's a yes then?

MARLES: Well, sovereignty is central. I mean– and it's not negotiable and that's clearly the case. But can I just–

CONNELL: And that specific element? 

MARLES: Yeah, indeed. But can I say, Tom, that is absolutely understood by all of our partners. Because the sovereignty of the United States to the United States is non‑negotiable. The sovereignty of the UK to the UK is non‑negotiable. We all get it. Part of how we exercise our sovereignty though, is to work really closely together because we are allies, we have shared values and we have close strategic alignment. And so we do work really closely together in terms of our defence forces. We've got Australian personnel embedded in the US armed forces and vice versa. And so there is a high degree of cooperation and really, at a practical level, that's the fundamental thing that matters.

CONNELL: There's been a decision made to limit the review scope for medals, awards and so on to 20 years. Many veterans that have spoken to Sky News are not very happy with this. There are a couple of World War II heroes recently that wouldn't have got their VCs, for example. Would you consider changing your mind after the reaction to this?

MARLES: Look, we've put this legislation before the Parliament. I think it is important legislation. I might say, this is going through a committee process. If there are ways in which we can improve it, we're obviously very open minded to that and we'll go through that committee process in good faith. But I think the fundamental point here is that our system of awards and honours is designed to provide those in the present, and the Tribunal's role is to review those in a relatively contemporaneous way. I mean that over a period of years. It’s not resourced to–

CONNELL: So, standing by, then, it sounds like?

MARLES: Well it’s simply not resourced to be a historical investigator, in a sense, and to start to– well, to see an extensive body of work on conflicts which might have happened more than a century ago. So we do see that the time period matters here. But, you know, we're running this thing through the normal committee process and we're very open minded to ways in which we can improve this, if there are ways we can do that.

CONNELL: All right, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles, appreciate your time today. Thank you.

MARLES: Thanks, Tom.

ENDS