Joint Press Conference, Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Over The Horizon Radar Export Agreement; Middle East Conflict; Australian-Canadian relationship; United States; Australian Defence capability

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Welcome, everyone. It's my enormous pleasure to welcome Stephen Fuhr, the Canadian Secretary of State for Defence Procurement, and, of course, I am also joined by Pat Conroy, our Minister for Defence Industry. The agreement that Stephen and I have just signed represents the biggest defence export in Australia's history, with Canada's procurement of the Over The Horizon Radar. This is a $2.5 billion deal, and it is far and away the largest defence export that we have ever done. The Over The Horizon Radar began its life actually under the Hawke Government back in 1986, and it was developed in partnership with BAE Systems. Craig Lockhart has been with us today, the Australian CEO of BAE, and since then it has formed the backbone of Australia's long-range northern surveillance. It is far and away the most advanced long-range radar in the world. Just like Australia, Canada has large areas to surveil, and so Canada will use this to engage in surveillance over the Arctic. In total, this will support 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, but actually more significantly than that, what this really means is that Australia and Canada are now partners in terms of the future development of the Over The Horizon Radar. Just as Canada has benefited from decades of investment by Australia in this technology, similarly, moving forward, we will be the beneficiary of Canada investing hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D to develop this technology going forward. Of course, Australia and Canada have always been the very best of friends, but really, with what we have signed today, there is now a very significant strategic dimension to the relationship. It builds on the uplifting of the defence and security relationship which occurred with Prime Minister Carney's visit to Australia back in March, where we agreed to do more in terms of intelligence, and we already do a lot as Five Eyes countries. We agreed to do more in terms of partnering with defence science and technology innovation, and we will also continue to work towards the establishment of the Status of Forces Agreement between our two countries. Today's agreement really is a historic moment for Australia's defence industry, but it is also a historic moment in the bilateral relationship between Australia and Canada. Stephen, you are a very honoured guest to our country today.

STEPHEN FUHR, SECRETARY OF STATE (DEFENCE PROCUREMENT): Thank you, partner. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Canada and Australia are Commonwealth countries, Five Eyes partners, and we've stood shoulder to shoulder for generations. As the world adjusts to its new strategic and economic realities, I can't think of a stronger partner to work with than Australia. Just a few months ago, Prime Minister Carney made his first bilateral visit to Australia, the first by a Canadian Prime Minister in nearly 20 years. He and Prime Minister Albanese reaffirmed the strength of the Canada-Australia relationship and committed to deeper cooperation in defence and security, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, energy, and investment. Today, we are turning those commitments into action by formalising our partnership to deliver Canada's Arctic Over The Horizon Radar capability. Australia brings decades of experience—apparently since 1986—developing and operating Over The Horizon Radar, and today's agreements allow us to build on the expertise together. This capability will significantly enhance Canada's Arctic domain awareness, detect and track air and maritime threats with much greater range, strengthen NORAD by providing earlier warning and improving continental defence, and reinforce Canada's Arctic sovereignty. We can expect this project to create nearly 2,300 jobs annually in Canada over the next five years, expected to contribute nearly $290 million annually to Canada's GDP over the same period of time, and at least 14 Canadian companies will support this effort, either by standing it up or providing in-service support for the duration of the project. I'm proud to say a number of those companies are small to medium-sized enterprises, exactly the types of businesses in Canada that we're trying to support. I want to thank the Government of Australia and BAE Systems Australia, and we're looking very much forward to delivering this capability together with Australia.

PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY: Briefly, Australia has developed and owns the best long-range radar in the world, and we should be so proud of that. And this radar, made in Australia, will soon be built in Canada. Not only will it equip the Canadian Armed Forces with the best long-range radar in the world, through this cooperation Canada will invest in the further development of this great capability, which will benefit not just Canada but Australia as well. So this is a great example of the industrial and technological cooperation that the Carney and Albanese governments have developed and will continue to develop, whether it's on long-range Over The Horizon Radars or hypersonic missiles, which was committed to by the two Prime Ministers earlier this year. Canada and Australia have a great industrial future together, a great defence future together, built on decades of cooperation, whether it's on battlefields or in workplaces. We've worked hand in hand for so long, and there's some great Canadian companies already operating in Australia. Australia's pilots are already trained using a Canadian company, CAE, and Australia's world-leading Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vessel already has a significant amount of Canadian componentry in it. So when we develop that for our Navy and export it around the world, we'll also be exporting Canadian know-how. So today's announcement of the largest defence export ever in this country is good for jobs in Australia, it's good for jobs in Canada, and it's good for our respective defence capabilities.

JOURNALIST: Minister, firstly, to clarify, the $2.5 billion I presume is for the first phase contract. Can you give us an update to on what you're doing with the United States in terms of negotiating this technology, and possibly even the UK? And to Minister Fuhr, if I could—your counterpart, David McGuinty, was supposed to be here for this announcement but has gone to Japan instead. I understand—is this the second minister to stand up Australia's Defence Minister at this moment?

MARLES: We engage with other countries in respect of our defence industry, but ultimately what decisions other countries make in respect of that is clearly a matter for them. As you said, what we signed today is the first stage of the Over The Horizon Radar for Canada. It represents the establishment of a site for this technology in Canada. To give you a sense of context, the Jindalee Over The Horizon Radar that we operate has three sites. It's operated from RAAF Base Edinburgh in Adelaide, but actually has three radar sites across Queensland, the Northern Territory, and WA. But this is for the first stage of what Canada will do.

FUHR: And to your question, I believe Minister McGuinty is in Japan with a trade commission. I was in Berlin and Paris prior to coming here. We've got lots going on in many regions of the world right now, so it's just a matter of dividing up all the effort and everyone taking their turn at bringing it all together.

JOURNALIST: Mr Fuhr, you talked about changing strategic and economic circumstances. Is the lesson out of Trump that America's oldest allies are going to do more for themselves?

FUHR: You know, we're still working with the Americans. We just announced that we're buying HIMARS from them. We bought P-8, and we'll continue to work with the Americans. That's not going to change, but the relationship is different. We have great partners in other places in the world—this being a very good example of it with this radar—and I'm sure there'll be much, much more to do. It would make no sense that we put all our resources into any one particular place, regardless of where it is. So we are reacting to our new realities and rewiring ourselves to meet the moment. And there's lots of opportunities out there for Canada. We've got friends in many different time zones.

JOURNALIST: Mr Marles, could you answer the same question on that?

MARLES: Well, America remains the cornerstone of our strategic and foreign policy. Our alliance with the United States has never been more important, and that is reflected in terms of defence procurement. Obviously, we operate a whole lot of American defence material in our Defence Force. At the same time, we are growing relationships with trusted friends and partners around the world. I think in a world which is more unpredictable and more volatile, it is actually a time to double down with friends, and that's what we're doing with Canada. But you see it in terms of the relationships that we're building with other countries. The United Kingdom is an example—where we were the week before last—and we're doing more with Germany as well. But we are really excited about what we're doing with Canada. As I said earlier, we have been the best of friends in the community of nations for a very long time, but you probably wouldn't have described there as having been a significant strategic dimension to the Australian-Canadian relationship. That is changing, and it really changed with Prime Minister Carney's visit here in March. We're doing a lot more work with Canada.

JOURNALIST: It changed with Trump though, didn’t it? 

MARLES: It's changed with Prime Minister Carney's visit here, and we're excited about the opportunities that exist in terms of working more closely together with Canada, and this is an example.

JOURNALIST: Speaking of America, what do you both make of Donald Trump's on-again, off-again peace deal with Iran? Has he completely cocked up this war, and what impact is the situation having on the economy, of both countries and the global economy, and confidence?                                                               

FUHR: Well, I mean, from our perspective – I think it's the same thing here – certainly gas prices aren't reacting favorably to the situation in Iran and we have our own challenges. I mean, mostly for us its sectoral tariffs; steel and aluminum, auto, soft lumber. We're reviewing CUSMA, which is a very, very important trade relationship we have with the United States, with a deadline looming at July 1. So, I mean, the United States is a big, important partner of Canada. That won't change. But we have lots of friends, like I said, in lots of different time zones. So we're going to build out our relationships more broadly to make sure that we aren't shocked by any particular partner doing any particular thing. 

JOURNALIST: And Iran?

MARLES: Obviously, for some time now, Ben, we've been talking about wanting to see a de-escalation in that conflict and so we welcomed the ceasefire when it happened, we welcome the initial peace deal when it's happened, and we very much hope that all of those conversations will progress and that the parties will adhere to the ceasefire. What we need to see is a return to normality in terms of the global fuel supply chain, and that's what we very much hope will occur. And of course, as part of that, we need to see an opening of the Strait of Hormuz. We have made clear that we'll play our part in that, in respect of the Multinational Maritime Mission, which is being led by the UK and by France, and we'll continue to work with them in respect of that. But what we need to see now is a return to that normality which has, at its heart, freedom of navigation generally and specifically in the Strait of Hormuz.

JOURNALIST:  Can you say more about the Status of Forces Agreement? What specifically would Australia and Canada be looking at there in terms of access, and when could that agreement be done?

MARLES: Well, to answer the last part first, we're hoping to do this in short order and it was something that Minister McGuinty and I spoke about when Minister McGuinty was here with Prime Minister Carney. And so we are working on the negotiation of the Status of Forces Agreement right now. What it will do is allow our defence forces to operate from each other's countries much more seamlessly, and in turn, I think that will facilitate greater engagement by the Canadian Armed Forces, for example, in defence exercises that we do. Canada has participated in a number of defence exercises that we've undertaken already but we are, both countries, I think, ambitious to do more in respect of that, and equally that will apply when we're operating from Canada. Stephen remarked when we were meeting earlier that it's kind of surprising we haven't had a Status of Forces Agreement before, so in a way this speaks to the fact that as old friends we really are developing a new strategic relationship, and the SOFA is a really important part of that.

JOURNALIST: Secretary, could you please confirm if you will be inspecting the Ghost Bat? And Minister Conroy, can you give us an update on how a prospective deal with the Germans is going in relation to that? 

FUHR: Well, I saw the Ghost Shark – lots of things here are called ghosts, for some reason – but I saw the Ghost Shark, and it was incredible and I was keen to see– as it was mentioned, there's a lot of Canadian tech there, sensors, propulsion, and Anduril has a very good relationship with some Canadian companies. I will be seeing the Ghost Bat, I believe, this afternoon and I'm quite interested. Collaborative combat aircraft are a thing, and it seems like Australia has got a bit of a lead there, so I'm curious to see where that's at. But I'm going to see it this afternoon

CONROY: In terms of how we going with Germany, obviously, we had the visit by the German Defence Minister Pistorius a couple of months ago, and I had the privilege of showing him around a Ghost Bat up at RAAF Amberley. They're currently running a competition. There are three, obviously, platforms being offered and Boeing Australia has partnered with Rheinmetall to do that. We're very confident in the capability. It is the most advanced collaborative combat aircraft in the world, the first combat aircraft designed and built in this country in 50 years, one of only two collaborative combat aircraft that's fired a missile, and we're working with the UK to fire a European air‑to‑air missile in the next period of time. But obviously we respect the German process and they'll choose who's best for them, but we've got the most advanced capability and they're rolling off to production line right now.

JOURNALIST: Minister Conroy, can I ask about Redback? Is that something that Canada is examining too, in terms of the land domain?

CONROY: Well again, that's a question that probably better been offered to the Canadian Minister here rather than me. 

FUHR: Well, if you would have noticed, we're recapitalizing our entire military. I'm surprised someone hasn’t asked me about submarines, but that's happening too, and the army's recapitalizing. With regard to Redback, we are probably in early stages of that type of capability, so I'm sure that'll come to the surface during options analysis, but I can't speak to it any more than that. 

JOURNALIST: Tell us about submarines then. 

FUHR: We will– I said this a week ago, like I said, I was in Berlin and Paris, and this is a big topic for a G7 country to buy potentially up to seven, or to buy up to potentially 12 submarines. If you add in infrastructure that could be the biggest military procurement Canada ever does, and I'm proud to say that we will have run a competitive process in eight and a half months, which is unheard of for a project this size. Right now, we have two qualified suppliers, so Hanwha Ocean and TKMS, which is a German‑Norwegian design. And within the coming weeks we will announce a preferred supplier from the two qualified suppliers, and the Government of Canada enter into negotiations to turn MOUs and things into contracts to make sure that everything that was talked about during the process solidifies into actual tangible things that we can bank on. So we're really proud of the process, and we'll have an answer here in the coming weeks.

JOURNALIST: Secretary, just on JORN. Obviously this agreement today is for stage one. Are further stages is guaranteed? Are you going to expand JORN down the track, or will you take a moment to sort of consider the success of stage one before agreeing to future contracts or–

FUHR: I mean, like any procurement, obviously we have confidence in the system, otherwise we wouldn't have done it. Australia is the best in the world at doing this. So I'm very confident things will go well. But obviously let's not get over skis in where we're at, and we'll look at things as they progress. Right now, we're focused on phase one.

JOURNALIST: Just for Minister Marles, are you sort of aggressively selling this technology to other countries? Are you keen to see other countries adopt this as well, or is this a sort of reserve kind of thing that would only go to very close allies like Canada, the US and the UK?

MARLES: Well certainly, the last part is the case. I mean, this is an exquisite technology with really impressive IP and something that we would only do with the closest of friends. That said, under our Government, we have looked to be more ambitious in terms of finding opportunities to engage in defence industry exports. And this is something that we can do with a close friend, and a close friend which actually shares, when you think about it, a lot of the same geographical traits as Australia, which is why we think it's so well suited to Canada. I mean, when it comes to defence industry exports we look at opportunities, but we do think about them in the context of what we are selling and how closely held that technology is. This is of that kind, and therefore, you know, the nature of this sale is that it's something that would happen with a very close, trusted partner, but Canada is very much that. 

CONROY: Can I just supplement briefly, Richard. Defence exports is a huge focus of the Albanese Labor Government. There's no coincidence that the two biggest defence export deals ever have occurred under this Government – this deal and the billion‑dollar export of Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles to Germany. We've established the Australian Defence Strategic Sales Office. For too long we've left Aussie industry to try and sell the products overseas without government support, effective government support through the stand-up of the Australian Defence Strategic Sales Office. You'll see the full force of the Australian Government partnering in campaigns with Australian Defence industry to sell platforms around the world, a genuine team defence approach, where you'll see everyone, including our Defence attaches. Our Defence Force has got a great reputation, and we are utilising that to sell these platforms. The DPM obviously announced at AUKMIN a shared approach to potentially exploring CEA technologies, which is the world's best phased array radar technology, into the UK system subject to their decision making. So you'll see platforms built here, developed here, sold around the world. That's not just about jobs, that's about helping fund future technological development of these platforms, which is what's occurring with JORN with Canada.

MARLES: Spot on. Great, thank you everyone. 

FUHR: Thank you very much. 

ENDS