Opening Remarks, Australia-Germany Defence Ministers' Meeting, Canberra

SUBJECTS: Australia Germany Defence Relationship.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Minister Pistorius, Boris, I should say– 
Boris and Nils, it's great to have you here. And on behalf of Pat, who will join us in a moment, it really is a joy. We met just a couple of months ago when you were hosting me along with the rest of the world at the Munich Security Conference, which was actually my first visit to the MSC, and it was really a fantastic experience. But I think what's become clear to me in the engagements that you and I have had is just how– the upside that there is in the relationship between Australia and Germany. I mean, obviously we share values. There is complete trust. There is so much that we can do together. We live on opposite sides of the world, but our world is so much more connected. And I think really, the war in Ukraine has borne that out. I mean, the moment that we have Russia and China signing a No Limits Agreement on the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine was suddenly the moment that a war in Eastern Europe became really important to Australia's national interest here. Because there's not many rules based orders, there's one, and we very much view it of the lessons that are learnt in Ukraine stand to be applied here in the Indo Pacific. When we did the first deployment of our E7 – and we've done two, that's right, in support of Ukraine – the first of those was done out of Ramstein. So, we were using Germany very much as space for that deployment. And again, I think that speaks to our cooperation. In defence industry, that's a big part of your trip, I know we're doing a lot together. Rheinmetall’s facility in Brisbane is building our Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles, and they are building your Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles, which I think I’m right in saying on this day is the largest defence export we have done. So that is also very significant and you'll have a fantastic day tomorrow looking at that. But actually, there's quite a strong history of German defence industry companies contributing to the Australian Defence Force and I think there's a huge opportunity to work more closely together in respect of defence industry. We'll have more to say in terms of the announcements that come out of today's meeting. But you are so, both of you, are so welcome here. I know it’s your first visit to Australia. I really hope you get an opportunity to enjoy the country, as well as having the meetings that we have. But you are very much an honoured guest.

BORIS PISTORIUS, GERMAN MINISTER OF DEFENCE: Thank you, Richard. Thank you very much for your kind remarks, for your warm hospitality. Indeed, it's my first visit to Australia, and it's great to catch up with you just six weeks after our meeting in Munich, and we have planned this visit to Australia ever since we met for the first time almost three years ago in Singapore, finally, we managed to come here. Today is, I think, more timely than ever. You mentioned it, international order is eroding. The increase of disrespect for the international order is concerning. And all that challenges us. And great power politics with hegemonic aspirations seem to be the order of the day, and we have to deal with that as smaller but still mighty countries in the world. And Russia's aggressive (inaudible) in Europe and the war in the Middle East impact Indo-Pacific security and vice versa. This is one of my lessons learned most important of the last years, is that all conflicts and all crises in the world are closely linked together and connected to each other, and each of these crises has an impact on the other region and at the other end of the world. So major crises, military confrontation around the world are interconnected, and they deserve, they need a holistic approach by us. So both our countries are defenders of the rules based international law, and I think this is what we need to work about in the years to come, the more the defenders of international rules and principles stick together, the more we can make a difference. And I think this is the task we have to fulfill in the future. The signing of the EU Australian Free Trade Agreement three days ago with one of my pre-pre-predecessors in the office of the Defence Minister is an encouraging example of what we can achieve together. After having paid visits now to our partners in Japan and Singapore, I'm very, very happy to be here in Canberra today in order to boost our bilateral enhanced strategic partnership, in particular in the area of military and defence industrial cooperation, but beyond. But most importantly, from my perspective, in terms of strategic alignment between our two nations is to proceed in what we have started to do here Richard. It is really a pleasure to be here. Thank you for your hospitality again, and I'm very much looking forward to today's interaction. Thank you.

MARLES: (inaudible) but as you say, the last German defence minister was Defence Minister Von Der Leyen, who was of course here on Tuesday as President Von Der Leyne. And so we had lunch with her on Tuesday and she was fondly recalling her last visit here. So, as I say, great to have you here.

ENDS