Television Interview, Sky Afternoon Agenda

SUBJECTS: New military training range in the Northern Territory, PM’s meeting with US President, Unsafe and unprofessional interaction with People’s Liberation Army-Air Force

ASHLEIGH GILLON [HOST]: Welcome back. You are with Afternoon Agenda. Thanks for being with us. Let's bring you some more reaction now to those talks we saw overnight in the White House between Donald Trump and our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Joining us live is the Assistant Defence Minister, Peter Khalil. 

PETER KHALIL [ASSISTANT MINISTER]: Good to see you. 

GILLON: Thanks for your time. The US has been keen to see Australia's strengthen our defence capabilities, particularly in Northern Australia. I see today you're announcing the completion of a new joint US Australian military training range in the Northern Territory. We're spending a lot of money, billions and billions on projects linked to the US and AUKUS in particular. It must have been a huge relief to hear the US President give his strong backing to the deal.

KHALIL: Well, it was good to hear the reaffirmation, the solid reaffirmation of the alliance and everything that we're doing within that. And you mentioned the work we're doing up here in the top end. I'm at Robertson Barracks at the moment, but announced this morning or officially opened, the new marksmanship training range, $46 million that the Government has invested in that as part of the joint investments with the US Australia Force Posture Agreement for the Northern Territory, some $747 million in upgrades for facilities training and so on. The markmanship training ranges where our troops and US Marines who are here on the rotation can work together, train together on a state of the art facility, the largest in Australia. And that also we're actually working together to invest over $14 billion in upgrading infrastructure across northern bases of Australia. And that is ostensibly actually to ensure that our northern bases, based on the emphasis of the national defence strategy, our northern bases, our infrastructure, is fit for purpose, that it's there to meet the current and future capability needs and to be able to meet the strategic challenges that we face in the Indo Pacific. This is a really important part geographically, obviously on the front line of our national security. And it's great to be able to work with our US partners up here in such a close and interoperable way. And it was great to hear President Trump even talk about some of the investments we're making in infrastructure at our bases, particularly around Henderson. I think he was referring to Henderson and Sterling over in Western Australia with respect to the submarines. So, it was a very successful meeting between the Prime Minister and the President with respect to our defence relationship.

GILLON: With so much at stake, can Kevin Rudd really continue on as ambassador?

KHALIL: Look, there was, as you've heard from other commentators, it was a bit tongue in cheek. It was good to see the President say all is forgiven. I think the really important point here is, I know everyone's kind of looking at that particular part of the meeting, but the President and the Prime Minister announced an 8.5 billion US, 13 billion Australian dollar value critical minerals and rare earths agreement that is fundamentally important for both our nations. And we're investing, We've just announced $100 million into Arafura Nolan project here in the territory in the top end. And that's going to produce, when it's operational, 5% of the world's rare rare earths and critical minerals. And Ambassador Rudd has done a power of work to make this happen. He's worked really hard on this particular agreement, he's worked hard on AUKUS, and I think that's really important to acknowledge. We wouldn't have got here without his efforts. And the main part of this meeting is the fact that we've heard from President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese a reaffirmation of the importance components of AUKUS and our work together and the work that we're doing on manufacturing and critical minerals and processing of critical minerals, all important for our energy security and our defence as well.

GILLON: I did want to also ask you about that recent encounter with China in the South China Sea. Beijing claiming that the Australian Air Force seriously infringed on China's sovereignty. What's your reaction to that today?

KHALIL: Well, to be, to be clear, Ashleigh, Australia has always adhered to international law in respect of international airspace overflight, but also the law of the sea with respect to freedom of navigation. And that's what our, our assets were doing, our P8 was doing, was, was working in unusual patrols that it does in that international airspace. We've made it very clear to China that their actions were unsafe and unprofessional and very risky, frankly. And we'll always stand firm on our right to be able to navigate the seas, the international waters and the international airspace, as is the right of every country under international law. What we're doing out there in the Indo Pacific. Ashleigh, to be quite clear, our men and women in uniform, whether it's in the air or on the sea. They are working with our partners in the region to ensure the stability and the security of the Indo Pacific. And that's important because frankly, we're a trading nation and we want to be able to trade freely without any impediments with the countries of the region. We want that stability because our prosperity as a trading nation is dependent, as it is for billions of people in the region, on that security of the Indo Pacific. So, everything we do is about avoiding conflict, deterring conflict, and making sure that there is adherence to the international law of the sea and to the international trade frameworks that benefit our nation.

GILLON: Peter Khalil, really appreciate making the time. Live there from Darwin. Thank you.

KHALIL: Thanks, Ashleigh.

ENDS