Radio Interview, ABC Melbourne

SUBJECTS: Middle East Conflict; Fuel Supply; Prime Minister's National Address; Action on Gambling

ALI MOORE, HOST: Richard Marles is the Minister for Defence and the Deputy Prime Minister. Richard Marles, welcome.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Ali. How are you?

MOORE: I'm good. So, Donald Trump says he's going to be in Iran for another two to three weeks. Is that bad news for us?

MARLES: Well, look, I mean, we just need to obviously work this through based on our national interest. The National Fuel Security Plan that we adopted between the Commonwealth and the States on Monday was really contemplating, you know, a whole range of scenarios in terms of what the future might hold. I think what it does say is that, you know, where we're at right now is the right calibration. And in the Prime Minister's own address to the Australian people last night, he talked about the need to go about your business as you normally would, to use the fuel that you normally would. But if there is an opportunity to switch to public transport, for example, which some people can do, others can't, but where you can do it, that's a sensible thing to do. Now, I think that's where we're at right now, and I think we are in a position to look at other measures in terms of managing that demand of fuel in the future if we need to. But right now, this is the stage in the plan that we're at, and that's what we're focusing on.

MOORE: If I can ask you, I'll come back to the Prime Minister's address last night and the plan. If I can ask you to maybe take off your Deputy Prime Minister's hat for a minute and put on your Minister for Defence hat. When you look at the American President saying he wants to send Iran back to the Stone Age, I mean, how do you read what he had to say this afternoon?

MARLES: Look, again, I think it's difficult to do a running commentary here, and I'm obviously not about to go into that. I think what we need to be doing, and I say this very much from the defence perspective, is to be very clear about what our national interest is and how we should be engaging with this. Now, we are really clear that we do not want to see a nuclear-enabled Iran, that Iran acquiring a deployable nuclear weapon would obviously be a catastrophe. You know, that said, this conflict is now into its fifth week. It's been going on a long time. It's had a major impact on the global economy, and we obviously welcome every effort to de‑escalate this and ultimately to negotiate a peace.

MARLES: Well, I must say, trying to send Iran back to the Stone Age sounds like anything but de‑escalation—

MOORE: Well, I mean, all I can do is articulate where we see this issue. We will continue to do the work that we are doing with our E‑7 Wedgetail in supporting the countries of the Gulf in their defence, particularly the UAE, and that's important work. The UAE is a very close partner with Australia. We've got a very large Australian expat population in the UAE, and they have hosted our operational headquarters for a very long time at the Al Minhad Air Base near Dubai. So, that's an important contribution that we're making there. And the other point that we've done is to sign up to the UK‑led statement around opening up the Straits of Hormuz when conditions allow for that. And there is a meeting tonight of a number of countries which is being convened by the UK, which we will be participating in. And we are speaking with the UK, France, and countries like that to look at what contributions we can make going forward.

MOORE: If we can look at that, again, Donald Trump also talked about the Strait of Hormuz today, and he said that, I mean, I don't know whether it's—I feel difficult asking you this question because I'm sure you can't read it any more easily than I can—but he said when this conflict is over, the Strait will open up naturally. It'll just open up, according to the President. I don't know if you've got any insight into how naturally the Strait is just going to open up. Can you help out with that?

MARLES: I mean, I probably can't, is the honest answer to that. I mean, obviously, I hope it does.

MOORE: So, what role could we have? Because there are these 35 countries meeting this evening. There is, you know, a search for some viable measures. What could that look like?

MARLES: Well, let me just reiterate, obviously our national interest lies in the Straits of Hormuz being opened up. So, we care about this, hence why we're participating in the meeting tonight and we've signed on to the statement previously. It's difficult to speculate about what we may or may not do, and in a sense it doesn't serve to do that because it really is a function of when conditions allow and obviously what is being planned in these various meetings and these various operational plans which are being undertaken by countries like the UK and France. But we're very much engaging with that. But I would point out that the E‑7 Wedgetail that we have in the region now is playing a really important role in assisting in the defence of the countries of the Gulf, and particularly the UAE. And so that platform is present, and we will, and we are, continue to talk with both the UK and France about how can meaningfully –

MOORE: Have we got another Wedgetail that we could send? I mean, what are the sort of military options at our disposal?

MARLES: I mean, we do have more than one Wedgetail in our fleet. And again, we will look at all the possibilities. I'm reluctant to speculate about all of them because it's really difficult to do that absent a proper plan and a kind of concrete request, which there isn't yet, in terms of what may assist, in terms of a collective effort from Australia. But we will work with those countries about how we can best contribute.

MOORE: The speech last night by the Prime Minister—you believe that he needed to make that? I mean, I put that in the context of only the fourth address to the nation in the past 20 years, and very much, I guess, read by those less what he said but the mere fact that he stood up being read as elevating this to a national crisis from a fuel crisis, elevating it to the point where it's an indicator that things are going to get worse before they get better. Do you think it was a wise move to make that speech?

MARLES: Look, I think it was really important that he make the speech. I mean, this is the biggest shock to petrol and diesel prices that we've ever seen. Australians are rightly anxious about what they're seeing at the petrol stations and the price of fuel. And there is a sense of unease, understandably, about what the future holds. And, you know, it kind of goes to the questions that you're asking. I don't know how long this is going to continue, and no one in this country does. And in the uncertain nature of those circumstances, it's understandable that Australians are feeling anxious. And I think in that moment, it really matters that the Prime Minister is speaking directly with the Australian people, both about what we're experiencing, what possibly may occur, but much more importantly what the government is doing and what Australians themselves can do. And that's really why the Prime Minister did the address to the nation last night, and I think it was really important that he did it.

MOORE: You're listening to the Minister for Defence and Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles. Richard Marles, last night's speech—Angus Taylor says it could have been a social media post, but now he too is addressing the nation tonight at 6 o'clock for a similar amount of time. Do you have any insights into that? That, too is unusual, isn't it?

MARLES: Well, it's not so unusual. I mean, I think it's pretty typical that when leaders have made addresses to the nation that there's an opportunity for the opposition to give a response and a reply. I don't have an insight exactly as to what the Leader of the Opposition will say, but I think this is really a moment where we need to come together as a country. What we are experiencing is clearly a challenge which is presented by a conflict in the Middle East, which is a conflict that we obviously weren't consulted about and is being pursued by others. And so we are needing to manage the circumstances as they are occurring, and those circumstances are pretty significant, and it is possible in terms of the disruption to the global fuel supply chain, that the future may be pretty challenging – and that's the point that the Prime Minister was making last night. Now, in that context and in these moments, it matters that the parties of government come together, and I very much hope that's what we see in the speech from the Leader of the Opposition tonight.

MOORE: Richard Marles, if I could just look at the gambling reforms. I think that you were in—am I correct—you were actually in the speech this afternoon when he was speaking at the Press Club?

MARLES: I was there, yes.

MOORE: Yeah. So this report, the report that recommended a ban on all gambling advertising, was handed to the government back in June 2023. We're now in April 2026. We have this response. I just want to play you a little bit of what the Reverend Tim Costello from the Alliance for Gambling Reform says. He calls the new measures timid.

[Excerpt]

REV TIM COSTELLO, ALLIANCE FOR GAMBLING REFORM: The opt‑out is really putting the pressure on parents and kids. The pressure should have been on the gambling companies, they're foreign multinationals, and that's what European nations did. They said, we're not going to have the gambling devastation Australia's got – we're banning the gambling ads, you can still gamble but they're not going to be allowed to advertise. Putting it on parents and kids, not the multimillion‑dollar companies, I think was timid. Reducing the ads, you might say, is a good thing to three an hour. But imagine if we had three cigarette ads an hour and said job is done?

[End of Excerpt]

MOORE: So, that was Tim Costello. Richard Marles, why not a complete ban?

MARLES: Well, I think there is striking a balance here—

MOORE: But what is the balance—I don't understand what the other side of the ledger is?

MARLES: Well, I think people are entitled to have a wager on sport, but what we're really seeking to do here is to protect kids, and that is where I would differ from what Tim Costello has said. This is absolutely limiting the amount that gambling companies can advertise during the hours of 6 to 8:30. It's completely removing gambling advertising during live sport during those hours. It's taking gambling advertising off radio during school drop‑off time. So, it is very much about protecting our kids here and breaking the nexus between wagering and sport. And again, the point I'd make here is that this is the single biggest reform to gambling advertising that we have seen in our country's history. So, I don't accept the characterisation that Tim Costello has made of this. It's taken a lot of effort to get to this point, to work with the various stakeholders across the sector and across the sporting sector. And actually, I think this represents an enormous step forward.

MOORE: With the banning of the online advertising, so you're banning unless you can verify that the user is over 18 and has the ability to opt out. Why? And this was one of the points that Tim Costello was making. Why choose an opt‑out system as opposed to an opt‑in system?

MARLES: Well, again, the focus here is on protecting kids. So, I'd go to that element of the reform in terms of online, in terms of streaming. But this absolutely empowers parents in these circumstances, and it does give people the ability to remove gambling in that circumstance. But again, I come back to the broad point here. This is the most significant reform that we have seen to gambling ever – well restriction on gambling advertising.

MOORE: You’ve made that point. But I guess what's on paper sort of has to happen in reality. And with this ban, unless the user is verified as being over 18. I mean, you would know yourself that the eSafety Commissioner did a recent update since the under‑16 social media ban and found that something like seven out of 10 parents said seven out of 10 kids who were on various social media platforms prior to the ban last December are still on those social media platforms. So, can you be confident that this really will protect kids?

MARLES: I think it'll make a massive difference. If you look at the social media reforms that we put in place, we have seen millions of accounts deleted as a result of that. There is no doubt that the measures that we have put in place there and what will be put in place here will give rise to a very significant change. That is one aspect of it. And I also think what we're doing in terms of limiting the number of ads during the day when kids are watching TV is profoundly important – and breaking that nexus between gambling advertising and sport is really important as well.

MOORE: Richard Marles, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

MARLES: Thanks, Ali.

ENDS