Television Interview, ABC News Breakfast

SUBJECTS: Osborne Shipyard Investment; AUKUS; Fuel Excise; ALP National Conference; One Nation

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: We are joined from South Australia by the Defence Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles. Richard, welcome back to our program.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, James.

GLENDAY: Now we've got a little bit of a delay this morning, but we are going to persist because you've got a big announcement. You're announcing that an extra $4.6 billion is going to be spent on the Osborne shipyards in South Australia. What sort of equipment is that money going to be going to?

MARLES: Well, this is another $4.6 billion, which adds to the $3.9 billion that was announced by the Prime Minister in February this year to build the submarine construction yard at the Osborne Naval Shipyard here in Adelaide. And this is a down payment on what's expected to be a $30 billion expenditure in terms of building this yard. This is really important in terms of delivering our future nuclear-powered submarines. It is a process which will see parts of the yard handed over over the next 10 years. But the first of those sheds actually comes into operation within a year, and that will enable us to cut steel on our first submarine by the end of this decade.

GLENDAY: It is a huge amount of money that's going towards the AUKUS project, and there are parts of the Labor Party base where you are now that are concerned so much money is getting piled into this. Some people have even been saying let's have a review of it at that conference. Is there going to be any meaningful debate though at this conference this weekend?

MARLES: Well, look, it's an issue which is part of the agenda for tomorrow, so we'll see what plays out in relation to that. But I guess I'd remind you, James, that three years ago we had a full-throated debate around AUKUS at the ALP National Conference, which was then in Brisbane. And that was months in the making. And when that debate occurred, the result was not close. There was overwhelming support within the National Conference for AUKUS. And that's really where things are at now in terms of where the party stands in respect to AUKUS. And from the government's point of view, we are continuing to deliver AUKUS. I mean, when you look at what we are announcing today down at Osborne, there's about 1400 [1,100] people who are working on building that yard right now, building up to around 4,000 people who will be involved in its construction. And that goes to the many people around Australia right now who are in the business of making AUKUS happen. So, we are delivering this, and it's fundamentally important for our capability, our national security, that we have a long-range capable submarine going well into the future.

GLENDAY: One of the reasons some people in the Labor Party have concerns about this though is, of course, the US President. He is unpredictable, to say the least. It was relatively easy for him to get involved in this war with Iran in the Middle East. He's finding it much harder to get back out of. And we've seen overnight the price of oil rise to over 100 USD a barrel. Does that mean that your government, of course you can't really influence the situation, but does that mean your government's going to have to do something about fuel excise over the next week?

MARLES: Well, we've been focused from the get-go on making sure that we have appropriate fuel supply in Australia. And the point to be made here is we've got more fuel in Australia today than we did the day before the war in respect of Iran started. And that is a real credit to what the government has been able to do in terms of securing that fuel supply. So, our focus has been on that. I mean, we have been focused on issues around the price of fuel, but we are really focused on fuel supply. And obviously in respect to the Middle East itself, we do need to see the Strait of Hormuz be open. Freedom of navigation is critically important, and it is absolutely essential that Iran allows shipping to go through the Strait of Hormuz. But we do want to see a de-escalation here and a return to peace and stability.

GLENDAY: We're chatting to you this morning, Richard, from the Hunter region. It's one of the places in the country that One Nation thinks it can make serious inroads at the next state election, but also the next federal election too. Do you now see that One Nation is perhaps your biggest threat, the pseudo-opposition party in Australia at the moment?

MARLES: Well, I think what we see is that whether we're talking about One Nation or whether we're talking about the coalition, the Liberals, they can only form government by working together. And that's what's happening. That is in fact what's happening. I mean, Liberal candidates will only get elected with One Nation preferences. They'll only be able to form government with One Nation support. And the same is true if, if One Nation candidates are winning. But when you actually look at what those parties stand for, they have a commonality of view, and that's fundamentally challenging what the Labor government's have been doing in respect of dealing with the cost of living pressures. One Nation supports removing penalty rates. One Nation has not supported increases in the minimum wage. One Nation is a threat to people's incomes and that been the case for the Liberals as well. So, there's a really stark proposition and a stark difference now between One Nation and the Liberals on the one hand and Labor on the other in terms of who is standing with the Australian people around challenges with cost of living. And that is most definitely and only the Albanese Labor government.

GLENDAY: Richard, on a much lighter note, I felt a bit sorry for the Prime Minister yesterday. Do they know if they do they've sorted out the escalators yet?

MARLES: I don't have an answer to the escalator question, but I spent quite a lot yesterday with the Prime Minister and he is very happy about the conference that he's obviously leading, about his speech to the conference yesterday. And you know we've got in my experience the most unified conference that I can remember and that's a real testament to Anthony Albanese’s leadership and the support that there is understand in the Labor Party conference for the Albanese Labor government to see it continue as a long-term Labor government.

GLENDAY: It certainly does appear as though it's pretty tightly controlled this time. Richard Marles, thank you so much for joining us and persisting with that relatively long delay.

ENDS