Press Conference, RAAF Base Tindal

SUBJECTS: New MQ-4C Triton facilities at RAAF Base Tindal, Port of Darwin

MARION SCRYMGOUR [FEDERAL MP FOR LINGIARI]: Well, we're here today on Wardaman Dagoman country, we've been part of a fantastic opening, it has been good to be in here. We've seen Defence, Indigenous people and landowners, but more importantly, private industry and the industry partners all coming together to work together to make this all happen. And of course, as always, in my part of the electorate, it is always good to have Federal Ministers come up and see just how important Lingiari is in terms of when we talk about Defence and looking after Northern Australia, you couldn't get a better story than what we've seen here today. So, it is fantastic to have Assistant Minister Peter Khalil here to do the opening, and so I will hand over to the Minister to say a few words. Thank you.

PETER KHALIL [ASSISTANT MINISTER]: Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much, Marion, and it's great to be welcomed to Wardaman Dagoman country by Auntie May, and it's great to be here in Marion Scrymgour's electorate of Lingiari. She's doing a terrific job up here in the Top End, it's always a pleasure to visit. Funnily enough, I was saying to Marion, I had to acclimatise to the colder weather up here because I came from Melbourne, which was forty four degrees yesterday, so there you go, that doesn't happen too often. But it's fantastic to be here at the opening of this facility. As Marion mentioned, Defence and the Albanese Government has invested $355 million into the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System facility project here. The work's been underway since May 2023, and it's what you see behind us here, this purpose built hangar, the working accommodations, the improvements and the upgrades to the airfield pavements, and all of the supporting infrastructure for the Triton capability which we have acquired for Australia. This is amazing kit, the four Tritons that - well, we've got three, we're having a fourth coming in in 2028 - they are really something quite remarkable. It is a remotely piloted surveillance plane. It's actually remotely piloted from take-off and landing from here in Tindal, but the rest of the time it's actually remotely piloted from Edinburgh, which is in South Australia, so 2,000 kilometres away. I was actually asking some of the military boffins, "What happens if the Internet goes down?" But anyway, don't worry, it's all taken care of, there are contingencies for that.

It is a really remarkable piece of kit, because what it does is about protect and defend and the surveillance around our northern maritime approaches, the northern routes to Australia, and of course as an island nation, a trading nation, this type of capability, to do the surveillance work around our northern approaches, our maritime northern approaches, is so critically important, because we are a trading nation. The security and the stability of our region is really where we get our prosperity and the way of life, that's where it flows from, and so the contribution of the Tritons to that important work is so critical to Australia's national interest, and it's been done now by 9 Squadron, which was dormant, or had a hiatus for thirty eight years, it used to fly the Iroquois a long time ago, and it's back, and they're doing a terrific job up here at Tindal.

I will say also, all of the men and women in uniform who are serving our nation up here in Tindal, all of the contractors, industry who are working hand in hand to build this wonderful facility, it's really state of the art here that we're seeing, and it is a template for the future around what we need to do as a nation for our national security. Lastly, I'd say there's a big question why; why is this important? It is about strategic necessity. As I said, the security and stability of the Indo Pacific, the protection and defence of our northern maritime approaches is so critical to our national interests, and we've seen explicitly from the Defence Strategic Review the importance of this network of northern bases across the Top End, not just in the Northern Territory, but right across the Top End, how important that those critical air bases are to our national interest, and the explicit recommendations to upgrade those facilities, those bases, to make them fit for purpose for the challenges that we are facing.

And that is exactly what the Albanese Labor Government has done. Since 2022, we have invested over $2.8 billion into the Top End, into the bases in the north. Now, here on this particular project, some $166 million went to Northern Territory businesses, some 7.5 million to Indigenous businesses, so it's fantastic for the local economy as well. But the amount of investment that we're putting into right across the northern bases is the largest, I think, in peacetime, and it is a significant investment in the capability that we have here, and the men and women in uniform to be able to do their jobs. So, that's why we're doing what we're doing. So, it's wonderful to be here. I might hand over now to Brigadier Quinn, who might say a few things about the project as well. Brigadier.

BRIGADIER MATTHEW QUINN [DG CAPITAL FACILITIES & INFRASTRUCTURE]: Thanks, Minister. It's a pleasure to be here at RAAF Base Tindal for the celebration of the completion of the facilities project to support the MQ 4C Triton Remotely Piloted Aircraft System. It's been a significant investment, as the Minister mentioned, in the local economy with approximately $166 million invested in Northern Territory businesses and 7.5 million in Indigenous businesses in the region, and I'd like to thank our industry partners on this project who've done a really good job in delivering these facilities on time and within budget; the project management, the manager of Jacobs, the designers of BVN Architects and the head contractor, a local NT business, Sitzler, have done a fantastic job in delivering this in a collaborative fashion, working together with Defence to deliver an aircraft maintenance hangar which also supports the operations. There's some delivery of aircraft - airfield pavement upgrades, as well as supporting infrastructure and working accommodation to support the capability. It's an important milestone in strengthening our northern bases and delivering Defence the capability it needs in accordance with the National Defence Strategy. Thank you.

KHALIL: Thanks. Happy to take some questions.

JOURNALIST: Why four? Why are we getting four, not seven, that was originally promised?

KHALIL: Well, that's a good question around - a lot of decisions are made around capability and acquisition and assessments made about our taxpayer dollars and how we spend it. Four is the number that we landed on as far as the analysis goes, and they'll be operating, as I said, out of Tindal in a very critically important capability to protect those northern approaches and to do the surveillance work that's necessary. It is a really remarkable kit. I mean, you asked “why four?”. These planes, and they are planes, not drones, they're remotely piloted planes, they can fly for 24 hours. That is a remarkable range and endurance, they can get up to 600 kilometres an hour. And interestingly enough, I was talking to Wing Commander Thompson about some of the capability, because obviously if you have a human pilot in there, they've got to take a break, they've got to go to the bathroom, they've got to have something to eat, maybe have a sleep, they're not flying for 24 hours, and this plane can get at a high altitude, it can do all sorts of things that you really can't do if you've got a human pilot, also protects our aviators as well because of the work that it's doing, and you still have obviously pilots who are remotely piloting the aircraft down here, and also at RAAF Base Edinburgh. So, I think the capability is really, really well suited to the needs that we have up here in Northern Australia, and those maritime approaches, and the work that it will do will be a significant contribution in conjunction with the work with do with our allies as well to the stability and the security and the region.

JOURNALIST: Minister, when can we expect the Tritons to begin their regular patrolling of that northern border, because I understand they're practically replacing the Orions or the Poseidon manned aircraft that used to do that?

KHALIL: My understanding is that there will be some conjunction in working together with the P8s as well. They're a different airframe, as you know, and there will be work in a complementarity, if you like. As far as the testing phases and all that, they are flying at the moment, they are doing all sorts of testing and so on. I don't want to get into the technical details because the military might have a better way of describing it, but they will be - they're progressing towards the full operational suite of flights, and so on, in the near future. So they are going through all the proper processes as we speak.

JOURNALIST: Do you expect it to play a role in identifying the illegal fishers and protecting water control measures?

KHALIL: Yeah, I think a lot of the work, the surveillance work, and remember this is not an armed capability, it doesn't have a strike capability - it really is about surveillance, reconnaissance. So that’s picking up on any illegal fishing, for example, protecting our national interests, whether they be economic or security interests right across those northern maritime approaches. So, it will be able to collect a lot of data, both visual and sensory data in many different ways that is assessed back down at RAAF Edinburgh through the people that are working there. So, it will have a lot of ability to actually cover a fair bit of work that is important for our national interests.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned this facility as state of the art, you know, at a world stage. How advanced is this? It was pretty secure coming in.

KHALIL: Yes, I know, yeah. It probably took you all a long time to get into this building, because it is a really importantly secure building, it is state of the art, it's very new. We do this quite well in Australia, the infrastructure work that we put together. The industry partners that we've had have done a terrific job, with the specs, it's complicated, this is a very complicated piece of machinery or capability, so having the infrastructure here to support that has done so well, and it is very new as well, so it is sort of at that cutting edge as well. So, as you can see from, you know, the pictures around me, this is quite a complex hangar, it's not just any old hangar, it's got a lot of special parts to it that support the capability that we see here.

JOURNALIST: Defence often gets a whack for non delivery or failure to deliver property or cost blow outs. This came, I think, four months early. Do you want to reflect on Sitzler, or the capacity of Territory industry to develop it.

SCRYMGOUR: Yep, that's true.

KHALIL: Yeah, absolutely, and Marion is nodding her head because, what, Territorians do it better, that right, Marion? I think Defence has traditionally, over many, many decades, been a bit slow in some of the acquisitioning and the budget blow outs and so on. This is not the case here. They have achieved what they wanted to achieve earlier than expected. They've done it spectacularly successfully on budget and all of that. So Sitzler and all of Jacobs, BVN, CFI, all the industry partners…

SCRYMGOUR: …everyone together.

KHALIL: All of the industry partners have been terrific, and the territory businesses that have been involved in this, including the Indigenous businesses that have been working on this project have done a terrific job. And I think, as I said, a real template for the work, the investment we're doing up in the Top End across the Northern Territory and other parts of Northern Australia.

JOURNALIST: Minister, there's other upgrades to Tindal underway, including work with the Americans through the US Force Posture Initiative. People ask me all the time about the refuelling, mid air refuelling capability and American B52 bombers. Where are we at on those?

KHALIL: Yeah, that's a good question. Big picture, working with our partners, we're investing over $14 billion AUD in the capabilities and the infrastructure in Northern Australia, the northern bases. That's over the next decade. That is a significant investment, you know, the largest, I think, in peacetime. The work that we do with our partners, the US Force Posture Initiative, and the commitment they're making as well to the infrastructure and the bases here is so important, because we've benefitted from it as well. So whether it's infrastructure, whether it's the runways, the aprons, whether it's the fuel base that I'm going to go visit the fuel farm soon, and that was part of one of the projects that has been done, a protected fuel storage facility, which is fantastic. All of that is so fantastic for our ADF. We get the benefits of it, and then working with our partner, we're able to again contribute to that stability and security right across the region with our Force Posture and our allies as well. So, it is a significant investment that is being made in the Top End.

JOURNALIST: Just to another matter very quickly, Darwin Port, in your conversations as Assistant Minister there, what are you hearing from our allies? What do they think are the problems with the Darwin Port situation?

KHALIL: Well, look, I think the Prime Minister said it correctly the other day. He was quite clear that the decision that was made by the previous government, the Coalition Government, was not in our national interest, and that our position as a government is that it should be returned to Australian hands, and that's something that he was quite clear about. There are commercial negotiations underway as we speak around that. Our interest is to ensure that it returns to Australian hands. I don't want to pre-empt some of those negotiations that are occurring, but as a frame, it's important that that returns to Australian hands.

JOURNALIST: How many parties have been talked to?

KHALIL: Look, there are negotiations underway, I'm not getting into details, and I'm not even privy to those commercial negotiations, but there are companies and other parties who are involved in that. I think from our perspective as a government, it's important that we make sure that there is an outcome that is in Australia's national security interests.

JOURNALIST: Just one last one, if I may, about the local businesses. You mentioned that there are dozens of local businesses involved in this build. It's a little hard to conceptualise that. Like, can you talk us through, like what contributions some of those local businesses made to what we're all looking at right now?

KHALIL: Well, I mean that might be a question better directed towards the infrastructure experts who know exactly which pipe and which iron railing, and whatever else, technological whiz bang thing was built by local businesses. But there was some - a number of contracts, subcontracts and contracts to local businesses, I think it was over $7 million for this project. More broadly, with the investments in the Top End, in the Northern Territory, it's some hundred - the total investment, as I was talking about earlier, over $170 million to local Indigenous businesses as well across the Territory. So that has been a significant aspect of this work. Brigadier, did you want to quickly answer that?

QUINN: Yes, I must admit, I don't have the specific details of all the things, but you know, for example, production of raw materials, the concrete that we're all standing on is a significant - a significant amount of concrete with this thing, which was obviously locally produced, and you know, delivered to site, sort of thing. So as well as another other smaller components that's delivered for the building, so raw materials and so on.

JOURNALIST: All right.

KHALIL: Thank you, everyone. Thanks for coming. Cheers, appreciate it.

ENDS