Television Interview, Sky News

SUBJECTS: AUKUS Battery System; IndoPac Protests 

Jaynie Seal: Well, Labor is preparing to unveil a major defence contract. The multimillion dollar deal, worth more than $34 million, is going to provide batteries for the AUKUS class submarines. So, the batteries will be built in South Australia, paving the way for opening hundreds of new jobs. There's also possibility Australian made minerals will be used to make the material for the fleet. And for more joining us live is the Defence Industry Minister, Pat Conroy. Minister, thank you so much for joining us. It's certainly a big announcement and as we just mentioned, plenty of jobs there on offer as well. Can you talk us through it a little bit more?

Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy: Absolutely. And this is part of the 20,000 well paid, secured jobs that AUKUS will deliver for Australians. This contract announcement today, as you said, is for PMB, a great Adelaide company, to supply batteries not just for our AUKUS submarines, but also the British submarines that will be built in the UK. So, this is more high skilled jobs that adds to the tally already. Importantly, this company is one of the best battery companies in the world and they're already supplying batteries to the Royal Navy's Astute class and Dreadnought class submarines. So, this is an Aussie success story that demonstrates what AUKUS is all about - bringing our industry together to grow jobs, get the best equipment into our Navy's hands to deter future conflict.

Seal: All right, so we hear that submarines are usually powered by nuclear energy. So, what's the deal here?

Conroy: Well even nuclear propelled submarines require batteries. They require them for emergency power and also as ballast to to make sure the submarine performs well. Before I came into this job I didn't know that nuclear powered submarines required batteries like diesel electric submarines, but they do. And this is a great job opportunity for PMB which was founded to support the Collins class build in the late 1980s. So, this is an example of us moving over a really excellent supply chain company into the AUKUS environment. These are more jobs. We've already got 450 Australians in the private sector working on the nuclear powered submarines and this will add to that tally as we reach towards the 20,000 jobs that the project will deliver over time.

Seal: And Minister, do we know what Australian made minerals will be used here?

Conroy: Well it's a nickel zinc battery. So, I'm not completely ofay with the supply chain but I think there will be huge opportunities for Australian materials here. Obviously we are the periodic table and there's great opportunities for Australian suppliers for things like this. And this is just another example of the Albanese getting on and delivering AUKUS. We've got the USS Vermont right now in HMAS Stirling doing a submarine maintenance period. We've got Navy personnel on the vessel, they're actually part of the crew and we've got defence industry personnel actually doing the maintenance. So, this is another example of AUKUS in action right now.

Seal: And Minister, what can you tell us about the pro Palestine protests that have been taking place? We've got our reporter there, Crystal Wu and she said that protesters have been there for quite a number of hours now. Of course the event is on there for three days. We've got live pictures there to show you and our viewers. So, it's the, they're attempting basically to block a weapons expo in Sydney that is of course ahead of the three day event. What are your thoughts on this?

Conroy: Well obviously we live in a vibrant democracy and people have a right to protest as long as it's peaceful. I would make the point that we've got over 100,000 Australians working in the Australian defence industry at the moment. And every day they get up and work to make Australia safer. They contribute to equipping our Australian Defence Force with the best equipment so they can get out there and protect Australia's interests and deter conflict. So, these people are patriots that make Australia safer and put food on their family's table. So, people have a right to protest. But I'm also calling for respect for Aussie workers doing a job that's really important for our national sovereignty.

Seal: And just finally, we've got about 30 seconds to go, I think. But, yes, you made that interesting point about batteries on submarines or nuclear submarines, and I didn't realise that either. Are we using more batteries with these submarines than what we have in the past or is there. Is it going to be roughly the same?

Conroy: Well, this is an expansion of program, so this is more jobs because not only are we supplying into the AUKUS submarines and we're getting obviously five, the UK are talking up to 12, so that's 17 compared to the six Collins class submarines, but also supplying their current programmes of Astute and Dreadnought. So, these are more jobs for Aussie workers, more income, more export revenue coming into Australia as part of that 20,000 job dividend out of AUKUS.

Seal: All right, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy, thank you so much for joining us.