Doorstop, Darwin

SUBJECTS: National Defence Strategy 2026; Port of Darwin; Visit to the Middle East; Collins Class LOTE; Diphtheria 

LUKE GOSLING OAM MP, SPECIAL ENVOY FOR NORTHERN AUSTRALIA, DEFENCE AND VETERAN AFFAIRS: Good morning, everyone, and welcome down to HMAS Coonawarra at Larrakeyah Barracks. It's fantastic to have our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Richard Marles, here with us once again at HMAS Coonawarra. We're really proud. The Albanese Labor Government is very proud of the amount of investment that we are putting into our bases, not just here in the Northern Territory but across Northern Australia. It's significant funding, and it's important because, through this base infrastructure funding, we're building capability to enable us to project into our region and to work with allies and partners in the important work that we have for the Australian people, and that is to keep Australians safe, and to work with our international partners, and it happens here a lot, not only here at Coonawarra and Larrakeyah Barracks, but at RAAF Base Darwin, Tindall, and obviously the 1st Brigade at Robertson Barracks, that investment from our government is really important for the job that our men and women of the ADF do. It's been great also to show Richard, the Deputy Prime Minister, our new Darwin Urgent Care Clinic, which will be opening on Monday. This is on top of the Palmerston Urgent Care Clinic that has already seen 37,000 visits since it's open, and coming Monday the Darwin Urgent Care Clinic will be open, so that's great news for everyone living in Greater Darwin, and it's on top of the record health investment that we're making into NT hospitals, but also into workforce programs, such as the new medical school at Charles Darwin University. So, more homegrown doctors, which is great for health services across the Northern Territory. Here at Coonawarra and Larrakeyah Barracks, there's also been some significant investments, and I'll leave the Deputy Prime Minister to let you all know about those. Thanks very much for coming.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you. And we are really proud to have Luke Gosling as a part of our team as the Special Envoy for Defence. Luke, of course, is a veteran who has worn our nation's uniform with distinction and so knows firsthand all the challenges in defence, and as the Member for Solomon represents Darwin, which is really one of the great garrison cities of our nation. A month ago, we announced the National Defence Strategy 2026, and contained within NDS 26 was a $13 to $16 billion commitment to hardening our northern bases even more over the course of the next decade, and the point of that is to enable our Defence Force to project further, and over the next couple of months we're going to see a real example of that in respect of our Air Force, as we have Exercise Southern Cross coming up, which will lead into Pitch Black, which is a real demonstration of the Air Force's capabilities, particularly with our fast jets. Here at HMAS Coonawarra, and part of Larrakeyah Barracks, we have seen a $600 million redevelopment. Earlier, we were at the new gymnasium, which is going to be opening in the coming weeks. That is a fantastic facility, which, along with a redevelopment of the mess, will greatly increase— increase the amenity here at Larrakeyah Barracks. That's really important in terms of the offer that we're making to existing serving men and women, but also future serving personnel in our Defence Force. That had been a challenge when we came to government. Our Defence Force was shrinking, but we have turned that around now, so the Defence Force is growing once again, and that's because of what we're doing in terms of investing in the experience that people have within the Defence Force, and the new mess and the gym are really important part of that. We've also seen here at HMAS Coonawarra as part of the broader redevelopment of Larrakeyah the wharf, which has just transformed the capacity to take the very largest ships here in Darwin. Last year, we had HMS Prince of Wales, a UK aircraft carrier, alongside, which is a demonstration of just how significant the change is here and how capable that wharf is. So, this is the living, breathing example of the investments that we are making in our northern bases to improve their capacity. Now, Darwin is, as I said, really one of the great garrison cities of our nation, it is home to elements of Navy, Air Force, Army. It is really a national asset from a national security point of view, but we really understand that you can't take that for granted, and so be it investments that we're making here at Larrakeyah, or investments that we're doing at Robertson Barracks, or at RAAF Base Darwin, or indeed RAAF Base Tindal, all of that is an example of the way in which the Albanese Government is making sure that we are investing in our northern bases across the top of Australia, but specifically our northern bases here in the Territory, so that we are absolutely investing in the city. Final point I want to make is this: in terms of what we've just seen with the gym and the mess, two thirds of the economic value of those projects has been spent on local businesses here in Darwin. We really understand that part of the social licence of being present in the community is that the local community gets the benefit from the economic footprint of Defence's presence here, it's been a real focus since we've come to government to try and ensure that we're doing better in relation to that, we're really proud that what we've seen is local Darwin businesses being principally responsible for the building of these facilities, and we will continue to do that. This is the Albanese Government very much investing in the north and investing here in Darwin.

JOURNALIST: Deputy Prime Minister, you mentioned Pitch Black. Are we expecting to see the US or any of the Gulf countries, like the UAE, participating in that exercise this year, given what we're seeing happening overseas?

MARLES: Well, the answer is we are expecting to see the US. Exercise Southern Cross, which leads into Pitch Black, is an exercise that we will be doing with Japan and the US, and then we would be expecting the normal participation at Pitch Black.

JOURNALIST: Do we know whether any of US assets in the NT—or we know that there are plenty of them—are being deployed to Iran?

MARLES: I don't have the specifics of that. I think it's unlikely, but I actually don't know specifically.

JOURNALIST: On the port—Landbridge is suing the government over how they've handled the port handover. Are you sort of hoping that there'll be some sort of a resolution there, so that we don't spend millions of dollars on an expensive, costly court battle?

MARLES: Yeah, look, we are—firstly, we're committed to putting the Port of Darwin back into Australian hands. We've said that when we were in opposition, we've been saying it for the entirety of our time in government, we've been working with Landbridge around this. We've sought to do this in private and to do this in a respectful way. Obviously, we're disappointed about the steps that have been taken to put this toward the place of an international tribunal. Obviously, we will do everything in our power to defend that matter, but we'll continue to talk with Landbridge to try and resolve this, but the commitment of the government is very much to see the Port of Darwin in Australian hands.

JOURNALIST: Has this been botched? Like, has this whole situation just been a mess?

MARLES: Well, I mean, we made it clear from the outset—I mean, going right back when the former government was in place—that we opposed the idea of the Port of Darwin going out of Australian hands. So it's been a commitment from Labor, from opposition, and coming into government to return the Port of Darwin to Australian hands. It's clearly a complicated challenge. We would have preferred that this had never happened, but you inherit the world as you find it, and we are pursuing this in the most appropriate, prudent and respectful way possible.

JOURNALIST: Is there any progress on a buyer for the Port yet?

MARLES: Again, I'm not about to speculate on any of that publicly. We are seeking to work this through in a respectful manner with Landbridge.

JOURNALIST: Just on the ship lift—do you believe that the Darwin ship lift is a facility that the US Navy might potentially be interested in?

MARLES: Well, I think it is a really important capability for Darwin. I'm reluctant to speculate on what the US may or may not want, but in a broader sense, part of the US being attracted to doing more from Darwin—and it is doing more from Darwin—is the broader assets that are here. I wouldn't want to go into it specifically, but all the development more broadly that we're seeing in Darwin is something that I know the US looks to.

JOURNALIST: Just on that, six months ago, I think your US counterpart, he flagged interest in deploying more bombers and assets and troops here. Have you been in conversation with the US about more US forces coming to Northern Australia?

MARLES: Well, what we've seen is a growth in the presence of the US footprint, really, since the Marine Rotation Darwin was first announced back in 2011. As we go through our processes every year with AUSMIN, the two-plus-two dialogue between defence and foreign ministers from both of our countries, the US footprint in Australia is an ongoing conversation. So, the short answer to your question is we are constantly talking with the US about their broader presence in Australia, and Darwin is a focal point—actually, on this date, is the focal point. I mean, we will see, of course, a significant US presence with the establishment of the Submarine Rotation Force West at HMAS Stirling, south of Perth, next year, but right now it is here where we are seeing a significant US presence, and we continue to talk constantly about how that—about what else can be done. We are seeing the growing US presence.

JOURNALIST: Just very quickly, on your trip to the Middle East—you've just gone there recently—what were your findings? What were you hearing about the ADF contribution in that region?

MARLES: Well, firstly, thank you for that question, because the principal reason for me to go was to visit our serving men and women across the region, but specifically, as well, the E-7 deployment. You can't help but feel a sense of pride in what our serving men and women are doing with enormous skill and professionalism and dedication. They went there really quickly—it was a pretty fast adaptation to a very dynamic situation, particularly when there was still conflict going. Obviously, it is quieter now with the ceasefire, and we very much hope that that continues, but we don't exactly know what the future is going to be. And so there is a very useful role that the E-7 continues to play there. As long as that useful role is there, they will continue to be engaged there. We have our operational headquarters at Al Minhad Air Base, outside of Dubai. I met with our personnel who are there as well, and we've had a long-timed presence there going back to 2003. Our headquarters have been there since 2008, and so it was really good to speak to them as well. The UAE has been on the front line of this, and they have been attacked by Iran without provocation, and we are very much responding to the call from the UAE for help, mindful that it is a country which has done an enormous amount for Australia in hosting our presence at Al Minhad Air Base for coming up to 20 years—or actually more than 20 years—but coming up to 20 years as our operational headquarters. So, just, you know, there was an enormous sense of pride, really, in what they're doing, and they're making a difference. You know, what they are doing is helping to defend the countries of the Gulf, specifically the UAE. They are making a difference in terms of saving property damage, but saving lives, and we could feel very proud.

JOURNALIST: Are there any plans to reinforce them, or to even enlarge the ADF footprint there?

MARLES: Well, what we've made clear is that we have committed to the multinational military mission in respect of the Strait of Hormuz when conditions allow—that's the precondition that's been established by the multinational military mission. We have committed an E-7 to that mission when conditions allow, but we've also made it clear that we will talk with both the UK and France, who are leading that, but also other allies and partners about what other contributions we might make, and we've made that clear from the outset. I've participated in ministerial meetings of the multinational military mission and will continue to be engaged. Right now, it is a question of when conditions are there.

JOURNALIST: Will the Australian Navy be coming to Darwin ship lift once that construction work is done?

MARLES: Well, I mean, we are focused here in terms of the capabilities here. Obviously, we've got an eye on those broader capabilities.

JOURNALIST: I have some further questions from Canberra about Collins Class.

MARLES: Sure.

JOURNALIST: Will scaling back the Collins Class life-of-type extension have any impact on the submarine's capability as they operate into the 2040s?

MARLES: Well, firstly, we're increasing our investment in the life-of-type extension of Collins Class—that's the important point to make here. When we came to government, the former Coalition government had committed $6 billion for the entire life-of-type extension of Collins through to the end of the capability. In the NDS that we handed down a month ago, there's an $11 billion commitment just for the next decade in terms of the life-of-type extension of Collins, so the important point to make here is we are increasing our expenditure on the capability, and the focus is about ensuring that we get more sea days out of Collins, out of the whole Collins Class submarines. What we are doing is pivoting the way in which the full-cycle dockings, the life-of-type extensions are being undertaken—that is, to overhaul and keep systems which are there in place whilst, at the same time, replacing other critical military capabilities. But the important point to make here is our focus is on getting sea days for the Collins Class submarines, with a view to us ultimately operating our future nuclear-powered submarines—both the Virginia-class submarines and the submarines that we will be building in Adelaide. What we inherited was a life-of-type extension plan which was based on making the submarines interoperable with the Attack-class submarines—a class of submarines that we had cancelled. It made no sense, and it wasn't properly funded, and it was a recipe for seeing less sea days for the Collins Class submarines rather than more. We fixed all of that through a much better targeting of how we're going to do the life-of-type extensions and through increased funding.

JOURNALIST: Let's go to diphtheria. May I just ask about the federal funding for the diphtheria outbreak here in the Territory—how's that going to be distributed?

MARLES: Well, firstly, we are very concerned about the outbreak and very much aware of it. We're working with the Territory Government in respect of it. There's a $7.2 million package that has been put in place specifically to deal with the diphtheria outbreak. A focus of that is in relation to vaccination—getting vaccination is the best step that can be taken to deal with this—so that is both being able to vaccinate people but having enough vaccines available. And so there's funding in respect of both of those elements to make sure that the vaccinations happen and that there are vaccines available to vaccinate people. As Luke said, we’ve come from the new Urgent Care Clinic that will be opened in Darwin on Monday. We were talking there about their ability to perform a number of these services, specifically in relation to diphtheria, starting from Monday. So, you know, we are really focused on this. There is funding, and therefore we're very much working with the Territory Government to make sure that the programs are all there.

JOURNALIST: One more question. Yep, there's speculation that you'll announce an underwater drone project in the United States at the Shangri-La Dialogue next weekend—what can you tell us about it?

MARLES: Look, we are looking forward to Shangri-La. I'm not going to speculate on what may or may not be announced, or for that matter, what meetings might or may not happen at Shangri-La. The Shangri-La is the most significant gathering of defence ministers in our region, that's one of the most significant gatherings of defence ministers in the world. It's my fifth Shangri-La that I'll be attending, and it's a really important moment for us, not only to put Australia's position to the region and the world in respect of our defence posture, but also to engage in bilateral and unilateral meetings with my counterparts, and to discuss a range of matters, and I will probably leave it at that. Thank you. 

ENDS