Press Conference, Orchard Hills

SUBJECTS: Orchard Hills Defence facility upgrade, jobs in Western Sydney.

MAYOR TODD CARNEY: I’m Todd Carney, the Mayor of Penrith. It’s great to have everyone out here today, especially the Minister, to make this fantastic announcement. Penrith City Council has been keen on making sure we have more jobs here locally. And today’s announcement will deliver on that. It’s really important defence industry is within our Penrith local area. We have played our part for many, many years, whether it’s through facilities like this in Orchard Hills, whether it’s the former ADI site in north Penrith. It’s been a great asset to our community and been able to create local jobs. So I really want to thank Minister Conroy for coming out today. Minister. 

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY, PAT CONROY: Thanks, Todd. It’s a great pleasure to be here with Mayor Todd Carney from Penrith City Council and Councillor Hollie McLean from Penrith City Council. Also great to be joined by Department of Defence officials, including Admiral Nigel Smith, a critical member of the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Division. 

Ladies and gentlemen, there is no higher duty for the Commonwealth Government than protecting our people and our interests. And that’s why the Albanese Labor Government is making record investments in the defence of the nation. We’ve been very busy getting on with that job. Over the last few months we’ve announced the Mogami class frigate that will rapidly enter service by the end of the decade. We’ve announced and opened a factory in Sydney producing the Ghost Shark extra large autonomous underwater vessel, the most advanced autonomous submarine in the world. We’ve moved on to the next stage of production of the Ghost Bat, the first combat aircraft designed and manufactured in Australia in 50 years. We’re rapidly introducing interservice advanced counter drone technology to defend our bases and our troops. And only last week, we welcomed into service with the Royal Australian Air Force the MC-55 Peregrine, the most advanced surveillance aircraft in the world. 

This is all about investing in our defence to deter conflict as well as driving jobs in a future made in Australia, a defence future made in Australia. And I’m proud to confirm that we have over 100,000 Australians working in the defence industry, and that number has grown by 15 per cent in the first two years of this government. 

One of the key priorities of our investment in defence is the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance enterprise, or GWEO. This is about our sovereignty. This is about our independence. This is about our self-reliance, where we will be making missiles in this country and doing greater maintenance and storage of our missiles. Anyone who’s seen conflict around the world, particularly in Ukraine, understands the high dependence on guided weapons, on missiles, and the huge wait time as the rest of the world re-arms. That’s why the $21 billion we’ve allocated to GWEO is so important. 

I announced late last year that we’d begun making missiles in this country. That occurred in 2025. Our second missile factory will come online in 2027, and our third around 2030. So we’re making missiles in this country, contributing to our self-reliance as well as growing jobs in our industries. 

Now, a critical part of that is the ability to test and certify our missiles, our ability to maintain those missiles and store those missiles as we’re investing billions of dollars in increasing our stocks of these missiles. And the Orchard Hills facility here, is the premier guided weapons facility in the entire country. This facility has been open since 1945, and it is the premier guided weapons facility in the country, doing test and certification and maintenance. 

And today I’m announcing a $500 million investment in this facility, a $500 million investment in the workforce of Western Sydney. Through two projects, we are modernising the facility, increasing its security, increasing the workshops to do that vital work, as well as building 14 earth-covered bunkers to store some of the most advanced missiles in the world. All here in Orchard Hills in Western Sydney. 

This half-a-billion-dollar investment will drive 2,000 high-skilled, secure jobs in Western Sydney – 600 direct jobs and 1400 indirect jobs. These jobs importantly include around a 10 per cent apprentice ratio as well as targets for Indigenous and female participation. So this is about high-skilled secured jobs for the people of Western Sydney while we invest in the security of the nation. 

This facility will be a critical part of our guided weapons enterprise. It will be a critical part of our national security. And it’s a vote of confidence by the Albanese Labor government in the workforce of Western Sydney, adding 2,000 jobs, adding half a billion dollars to the local economy, while increasing safety for all Australians. 

I’m happy to take questions about today’s announcement then happy to answer questions on news of the day. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, you say this is increasing Australia’s security and safety, but is it wise to be building a facility like this in the middle of metropolitan Sydney? Six kilometres up the road is Penrith. We saw last year Chinese ships floating off the coastline. Why build something so sensitive here and not up in northern Australia in the deserts up there? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, this facility has been operating since 1945. So it’s been operating safely – 

JOURNALIST: But you’re about to take a massive leap with your investment today. 

MINISTER CONROY: It is about to take a massive leap, but importantly, on the same footprint. So we’re not expanding the footprint of the facility. All the buildings are being built in the facility. There are very expensive buffer zones both within the facility, within the land of the facility and outside it in woodland. Importantly, we have accommodation on site. Defence staff live here regularly, and so the safety of this facility if anything is increasing because we’re investing in the latest technology around earth-covered bunkers. So this facility is very safe. We are following world best regulation. 

But why is it here? It’s here because we need access to a very large workforce to staff the facility. And there’s no higher-skilled workforce than the workforce of Western Sydney. It’s also got excellent transport connections through road and rail links. So this facility is on existing footprint, as I said, since 1945. We’re building within the facility, and it’s a vote of confidence in the workforce of Western Sydney. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, what kind of missiles will be stored here? Can you give us some idea? 

MINISTER CONROY: Yeah, so I need to be careful about being too exact about inventory for national security reasons, but this is the premier guided weapons facility, so this is the test and maintenance facility for things like our Royal Australian Air Force missiles, so think our AIM-9 Sidewinders and advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, as well as our key naval weapons like the standard missile 2 and the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile. So if there are advanced missiles, likely they’re being maintained here. 

JOURNALIST: If we get to the point where we’ll be manufacturing our own missiles, will we be able to ever sell our missiles and export to other countries? 

MINISTER CONROY: Absolutely. And so one of the key parts of what’s being done here is to construct a facility to partner with our second missile factory. So in the Hunter region we’re making missiles called the Naval Strike Missile and the Joint Strike Missile. These are some of the most advanced ship-destroying cruise missiles in the world. They will be manufactured in the Hunter near Williamtown airport. They’ll be transported down to here where here the final assembly will be done where we will combine the body of the missile with the explosive warhead and the rocket motor. So that will be done here as part of that missile manufacturing. And our plan is to export both the Naval Strike Missile and the missile that will be constructed somewhere else called the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Missile, that is a land attack missile. Our plan is to make those available for sale to allies and like-minded countries. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, I was just going to say, what’s involved in testing missiles? Without obviously launching them into the sky. 

MINISTER CONROY: I might invite Admiral Smith to give you some detail on that. But just further to your question about exports, our factories are being built with excess capacity so that we have the ability to export and drive more jobs for Australians. So the facility building the GMLARS land attack missile, if we built it for our needs, it would have a scale of about 300 missiles a year. We plan on building it to have a scale of 4,000 missiles a year. The Joint Strike Missile and Naval Strike Missile facility will have double the scale we need because we intend to make these available for like-minded countries. 

JOURNALIST: What do those missiles do though? You mentioned a name there. 

MINISTER CONROY: So the GMLARS missile – Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System – that’s fired from the HIMARS, which is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. It’s a rocket truck, it’s effectively a truck that’s being deployed in the Ukraine right now where it fires these missiles and then it moves quickly. So that’s the GMLARS facility. And they are partnering with Lockheed Martin, with Kongsberg, which is a Norwegian company we’re billing the Naval Strike Missile, which has been installed on our frigates and destroyers right now, and that is a ship-destroying missile. And we will also manufacture the Joint Strike Missile, which is fired from our aircraft to sink ships. So these are all really advanced technology. These are some of the most advanced missiles in the world. 

I’ll invite Admiral Smith to talk about the testing and certification process. 

ADMIRAL NIGEL SMITH: Thank you, Minister. Yes, so to the question of what’s involved with testing, fundamentally we bring the missiles in. We can break them down to major components, do electronics testing to make sure all the components are working properly, build the missiles back up again and send them back out or put them back into storage. And the aim being to give confidence that when they’re on a ship or on aircraft that they will work. So it’s end-to-end electronic testing.

MINISTER CONROY: And just to amplify a point, these facilities aren’t just for Australia. We’re in discussions with allies about how we can support their needs. So last year, on this very establishment, we did maintenance on a US Navy standard missile 2, which was then delivered back to the US Navy ship. So we’re doing what’s called co-production and co-sustainment because that means more jobs for Australians and more support for our allies. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, on another issue, if I may, the CDF has just written to all Defence personnel praising their efforts in Afghanistan in light of what President Trump said. Did you find what President Trump said particularly egregious? What is it an insult to Australian servicemen and women? 

MINISTER CONROY: Before I answer that question, are there any other questions on today’s announcement? 

JOURNALIST: Yeah, maybe just on the other part of the announcement, Minister, the $500 million also going to base security, I’m told. This is an issue that was highlighted last year. The Seven Spotlight program went around to some of the bases and exposed some genuinely concerning weaknesses – chicken wire fences around the Williamtown base, [indistinct] being right there in front of them et cetera, et cetera. There was the parking of the ships down at Garden Island. Can you assure Australians that their bases are safe and that you are spending money to upgrade that security? 

MINISTER CONROY: Yes, I can. One of today’s announcements, as you highlighted, is about increasing the security of this establishment. This facility was originally built in 1945, and some parts of the facility haven’t been touched since then. So this is a really critical investment in the basic infrastructure, including security. And we’re rolling that out around the country, particularly in northern Australia as part of the recommendations from the Defence Strategic Review. 

One of the things I alluded to was a massive investment in counter-drone technology that has attracted some media interest. So we’re now building counter-drone technology that has the ability to disable and destroy drones as well as amending the laws that allows the Australian Defence Force to do that. Why previous governments haven’t done that is beyond us, but we’ve allocated $10 billion investing in drone and counter-drone systems for the Australian Defence Force. 

JOURNALIST: Just on the accommodation component, will it be upgrading existing accommodation or taking on new people staying here? 

MINISTER CONROY: I’ll invite our other representative from Defence to give those details. 

MR KAEL DA COSTA, DIRECTOR CAPITAL FACILITIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE: Thanks, Minister. The works that are going to be undertaken in the redevelopment of the existing facilities will see the demolition of a range of buildings that are no longer fit for purpose and the construction of new fit-for-purpose facilities that meet the standards that are expected from a modern workforce both in living accommodation for the trainees but also for working accommodation for 80th personnel, for Australian Public Service members working in Defence and our business partners who all work on this site. 

MINISTER CONROY: I might address your other question, so I’ll ask my colleagues to exit out of sight. 

We fully support the message that the Chief of the Defence Force relayed to Defence personnel. We honour the sacrifice of the more than 40,000 Australians who served in Afghanistan, and our thoughts are with the families of those personnel who tragically lost their lives. As the Prime Minister said on Sunday, the comments that you were referring to were not acceptable. They weren’t appropriate, and I also point out that President Trump has subsequently published further comments on the contribution that allies made in Afghanistan.

JOURNALIST: It’s a terrible thing for those families that lost people in Afghanistan. 

MINISTER CONROY: It’s – as the Prime Minister said on Sunday, our thoughts go out to those families. To go through this again is just not acceptable. We’re not going to provide running commentary on every comment that comes from the Trump administration, but they weren’t acceptable, and that’s why the CDF message was one that was very necessary. 

JOURNALIST: Scott Morrison has suggested that Islamic preachers require accreditation to do their practice. What do you think of that idea? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I just think that whenever the Liberal Party gets into trouble they try and divide Australians. That’s the standard playbook from the Liberals, and we’re seeing that today not just with the comments from Scott Morrison but backed in by a senior Liberal frontbencher who is continuing the Liberal Party plan to divide Australians when what we need is greater social cohesion. What we need is moments of unity to bring the Australian people together, which we tried to endeavour to do last week. 

But for the Liberal Party to hold almost 1 million Australians of Islamic faith responsible for the vile acts of two individuals in Bondi is just disgraceful. And yet again they’re dividing Australians to cover up their own divisions and disunity. 

JOURNALIST: The Chinese Ambassador is addressing the press in Canberra today, Minister. Do you think the relationship between Australia and China has improved since that nation sent its troops to circumnavigate the country? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we’ve stabilised relations with China since we came into government in 2022. We stabilised it. We’ve been very clear that we will cooperate where we can but disagree where we must. And we’ve been very forthright in conveying our views when actions have not been acceptable. But the Australian people expect us to have mature relationships with every country in the world, but most particularly countries like China, the United States, Europe. And that’s what we’re intent on doing. 

JOURNALIST: And just following up [indistinct], the fact that you are spending so much money on drone and anti-drone technology and upgrading security here, is that an acknowledgement that security was not good enough at Australia’s military bases? 

MINISTER CONROY: It’s an acknowledgement that warfare is changing. Anyone who sees the daily footage from Ukraine understands that warfare is changing. The cycle of development of weapons, whether it’s drones and counter drones, whether it’s undersea technology, is rapidly evolving. And its incumbent upon any responsible government to keep up with it. And that’s why we’re investing $10 billion in drone and counter drone technology, and we’re proud that we’re using Australian companies to do that as much as we can, we means growing more high-paid secure jobs for Australian workers, as well as increasing our sovereignty and self-reliance. 

JOURNALIST: Just finally, a question from Canberra: Colin Boyce looks set to jump to One Nation, multiple polls showing that they are now in second place. Are you worried about the rise of the right? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we’re focused on governing for all Australians. We’re focused on attacking the cost of living – 

JOURNALIST: Does that include a concern, though, about how much the right is on the move? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I think what’s clear is that the division and disunity within the Liberal Party has traditional Liberal Party voters looking for other parties. That’s what I’m hearing on the streets when I talk to people. Some of those people came across to Labor at the last election. Some have spread far and wide to other parties. And that demonstrates that the Liberal Party is out of touch with what Australians want. The Australian people want a focus on cost of living. The Australian people want us focused on investing in health care, investing in education, investing in national security. And that’s what the Albanese Labor government is doing. Thank you very much, everyone. 

JOURNALIST: Mayor, do you mind if I ask a question? Mayor, a lot of jobs for the local area. Are you comfortable with this being used to store missiles on the backdoor of a lot of residents? 

TODD CARNEY: As we’ve heard, this has been around since 1945. It’s been a well-maintained facility over many, many years. But it’s great to see that investment come back into this area to make sure the security is right. That we need to make sure that we play our part in the defence of our nation. And I’m glad to see the Federal Government is actively investing in this local facility to make it safer, but also to make sure our country is safer at the same time.

JOURNALIST: No misgivings? 

TODD CARNEY: No misgivings at all.

ENDS