Television Interview, Today Show

SUBJECTS: Missile testing, NATO, investment in defence.

CHARLES CROUCHER: Minister, good morning. How much notice is NATO taking of what China did in our backyard over the last few days?

PAT CONROY, MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY: Well, NATO's taking plenty of notice. The Secretary General Mark Rutte talked about it publicly. I've just come out of a session with the NATO Defence Ministers, and I featured it in my remarks, and many of the NATO countries also highlighted it. It's another example of how we're all interconnected. There's no such thing as a regional conflict. All conflicts are global now. And it just demonstrates why the Albanese Government is committed to increasing our defence funding so significantly while also increasing our diplomatic efforts.

SARAH ABO: Does it feel a bit like a game of catch-up, though, Pat? This is the issue. I mean, the PM's called this launch provocative. Australia had little warning that it was happening. China is clearly just bullying its neighbours in the Pacific here and basically getting away with it.

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we've been very clear that it's provocative and it's destabilising, and it is very concerning and contrary to what the Pacific leaders want. And I think there's an element of contrast where China was ignoring the stated wishes of Pacific leaders at the same time as we were signing our fourth alliance ever with Fiji. So, I think it demonstrates that the way we're going about business in the Pacific will be more effective. But at the same time, we're massively increasing our investment in our defence capabilities to defend Australia and deter conflict in our region.

CHARLES CROUCHER: Because this was a long-range nuclear-capable missile, it was fired from a nuclear submarine. Do Australia and our allies have the capability to respond to that level of tech, or at least to detect when it's about to happen?

MINISTER CONROY: Well, first off, we don't want conflicts, and so it's really clear that everything we do is to avoid conflict, avoid war and promote peace. But we are making very significant investments. I'll give you one example. Part of our biggest increase in our defence budget in peacetime ever, we're increasing our active missile defence by an order of five. So, five times the investment that was planned is now going into active missile defence. We're doubling our production of our own missiles and we're putting $7 billion aside for counter-drone defences. So, we're investing very significantly, growing Aussie jobs at the same time. But we're working with our allies and partners, whether it's the United States, whether it's Japan, whether it's the NATO countries, to deter conflict and work together because we are stronger together. And that's one of the key messages from today's NATO summit.

CHARLES CROUCHER: You mentioned that the counter drone and the $7 billion there, just really quickly, is that enough to keep Donald Trump happy and how will that work here in Australia?

MINISTER CONROY: Well, it's the right capability for us, and that's the most important reason why we're doing this. But we're investing in lasers to defeat drones. We're investing in kamikaze drones, one-way drones to hit drones and also cannons. So, we're making lots of investments here to protect Australia, and it's being noticed around the world. We already spend more on defence than most NATO countries, and that will continue to be the case for some time.

SARAH ABO: Staggering amount of money. Let's hope we do eventually catch up with China's capabilities. Pat, good to speak this morning. Thanks for joining us.

ENDS