Television Interview, ABC Afternoon Briefing

SUBJECTS: Tomago smelter, US Defence briefing on AUKUS, UAS in restricted airspace.
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: For more on the Tomago smelter I want to bring in Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy, whose electorate of Shortland is just south of the Tomago smelter, so this is good news for workers in the region that's for sure. Welcome to the program. 
 
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY PAT CONROY: Thank you very much for having me. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Productivity Commission Chair Danielle Wood has criticised the bailout of smelters. She's said, "Old fashioned industry assistance arguments for bailouts of copper and aluminium smelters are being dressed up in shiny supply chain security and economic sovereignty wrappers". Is that what you're doing, this is just old fashioned protectionism? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well, this is a great day for the Hunter, one of the best days since the 1997 Rugby League Grand Final, and I want to start by paying tribute to the PM and the Industry Minister and the Climate Minister, and Meryl Swanson the member for Paterson who's been staunch in her advocacy for this area. 
 
The truth is this is an agreement that locks in the future of a thousand workers directly, 5,000 indirect jobs through SMEs throughout the area, and it locks in a sovereign supply chain. Anyone who's lived through COVID or the current Middle East crisis knows we need to be able to make things here. And we understand the thinking of others who are opposed to this, but this is critical to our sovereignty, it's critical to the transition of our economy to one that is based on net zero, and it's a great day for the Hunter and a great day for the nation. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Do you accept the only reason you need to do it though is because Rio Tinto has said they can't afford the energy bills, and obviously their energy bills are all happening under the energy system you're presiding over? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well Rio Tinto have been very clear that they would have closed the smelter because of coal-fired power being too expensive. And coal-fired power is too expensive, and the energy system has been underinvested due to the chaos of the last government who had 23 energy policies that led to thousands of megawatts of energy closing without adequate replacement. We're fixing that. And in fact, this deal will drive in three gigawatts of firmed up renewable energy that will lower prices, that will deliver certainty for the smelter to transition to zero emissions electricity and will actually help us transition the economy. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Greens say Australians should get a stake in Tomago, if you're spending all that money why don't Australian taxpayers get a stake?
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well, we benefit from a range of things. Obviously, there’s 6,000 jobs directly that we benefit from. We benefit from the role that the smelter plays in the grid. It provides – it consumes 12 per cent of power and acts as a de facto battery. In 2017 when we had a 45-degree day and we had two coal-fired power stations shut down, it came offline for three hours, and it avoided a million houses being blacked out. So, it plays a really strong role anchoring the grid, and as I said, this will drive three gigawatts of renewable energy into the grid that will also help lower power prices. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Is Tomago going to be forever reliant on government subsidies just to stay open?

MINISTER CONROY: I’ve got great confidence in the future of Tomago, in a global economy that will increasingly demand low carbon aluminium, we're in a great position given our global, our resources, both renewable and a bauxite.
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Do you think that a taxpayer tap can be turned off and this will keep going? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well the world's going through a transition right now and we're dealing with an energy grid that was really undermined by the last government. We're fixing that and this will be part of that process, and I'm confident that this smelter will have a very bright future in this country. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I want to move on to some other issues, very much portfolio related. US Defence Under Secretary Elbridge Colby has just given a briefing to journalists about AUKUS. He's made lots of comments, some optimistic as I'm sure you'll point that out, but there are others which kind of piqued my interest. He's said he's optimistic, but he added he's clear-eyed about the AUKUS project. He clearly wants Australia to do more. Was that the message? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: No, no, absolutely not. The message was that AUKUS is full steam ahead, that was his exact words, and that he's pleased with progress in Australia, particularly with preparation for Submarine Rotation Force - West. He was making the point that he knows the US needs to do more around submarine maintenance, submarine production, and we need to do more to deliver on both SRF-West, which is ready right now, but also for us to be sovereign ready in 2030, the early 2030s. 
 
One example of that, and I announced this when I was in the United States a couple of weeks ago, is we will be building a floating dry dock as part of being sovereign ready. So of course, there's more to do in what is the most complex undertaking industrially this country's ever attempted, but Elbridge Colby was very clear that he's pleased with progress and its full steam ahead. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. He says, "Obviously there's a lot of things that the Australian side needs to do", so he's actually, you know, putting some pressure on the Australian side to deliver on our side of the bargain. 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well that was one sentence after him saying there's plenty the US needs to do around submarine maintenance and production. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: He did, he talked about that, but I'm talking about our end of the bargain. 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well, he was making the very valid and accurate point that this is a journey. We're on a journey of this process. We're ready for Submarine Rotation Force-West, the US have declared that, so that's great news, and that starts next year. And we're on a journey to the early 2030s when we receive our first Virginia class submarine. Part of that is increasing our maintenance capability, increasing our training of Australian sailors, and I visited 77 Australian sailors training in South Carolina on nuclear propulsion right now, and we need to do more in terms of building that floating dry dock which is critical to receiving the first Virginia class. So, it was a very positive review from that particular Pentagon official, and that's great for AUKUS which is critical to our national security. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: He said, "You need to work on a reasonably stable and realistic set of expectations to achieve this historic ambition". "A realistic set of expectations", are some of the expectations unrealistic? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: No, I think he was saying that this is a very complex undertaking and we've got to work through it in a pragmatic and realistic manner. He also said that Australia and the United States were incredibly aligned on this endeavour, and that reflects the understandings from all levels of government on what is a critical national security endeavour, one that will create 20,000 well-skilled, high-skilled jobs, as well as giving the Navy the best submarine capability in the world. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: So has Elbridge Colby sought guarantees from Australia about our end of the bargain? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: He said in his own remarks that he's happy with progress, that the implementation of his review is reflected in that progress, and that he's pleased with how we're going. So I think he's being pragmatic and saying realistically this is a very challenging area, but we're hitting all the milestones. His actual words were, we’re hitting our milestones, Australia's hitting their milestones, but of course we have to do more.
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Still in your Defence portfolio but a different story. A number of unmanned aircraft systems were spotted flying in restricted airspace above Williamtown RAAF Base. I'm sure you're across this story. That's Australia's main fighter pilot training base. These incursions that happened in July have obviously been seen as a breach. Do we know who was doing it? Are you concerned about this? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: The New South Wales Police have conducted an investigation, and I won't go into the details for operational security reasons, but we've been very clear with the Australian public that flying drones near any airport is a stupid idea. They shouldn't do it, it's careless, it's risky and they should not do that. We're working with the state authorities on how to combat this. From a Defence point of view we're investing $7 billion in counter drone technology so that the ADF can knock down these drones, both by interfering with their signal and so-called kinetic effectors, destroying them, and importantly we've changed Defence regulations, so the ADF has the power to do this. Would you believe until last year the ADF did not have the legislative power to destroy drones near our critical infrastructure. That has now changed. And as I said, $7 billion worth of equipment that will give the ADF that capability. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. So have you been briefed by New South Wales Police? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Not directly. I've been briefed by Defence. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Okay. And what is the advice about the motive or the reason this was happening? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well, again, I'm not going to go into that for operational security reasons. I know that's probably an unsatisfactory answer for you…
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: A little bit. 
 
MINISTER CONROY: And for your viewers, but we have to be careful about this area because too much information is unhelpful in the public domain. What can I say to you is people should not be flying drones near airports. We've given the ADF both the legislative power and the physical capability to knock them down and we've got layered defences to make sure we are protected from this. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Just finally, it's been the story that's sort of dogged the Prime Minister all week and that's in relation to the melon gift. Across the board, from the Greens to the Coalition, people calling for the Prime Minister just to apologise and put this issue to bed. Why doesn't he? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well the Prime Minister has answered this fully. He's been very clear about it. Our relationship with Japan and the Japanese is has never been better. There's a statement 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Wouldn't it be even better if he apologised? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: There's a statement from the Japanese ambassador to that effect, how good the relationship is, and the Prime Minister completely rejects the characterisation of this that the Opposition in a desperate attempt to distract from their division and chaos are trying to do. This... 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Is this a problem for the Prime Minister though, seriously, Minister, that people can watch it, they can go and obtain it right now, this podcast and what he says didn't happen, a lot of people, including a lot of women, say, "Oh, we think it did happen. We do think it was an offensive gesture", so isn't that the disconnect? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well, people can draw whatever they conclusions they want, it's a free country. But I absolutely agree with the Prime Minister that this is a mischaracterisation from the Opposition and News Limited in an attempt to spin and distract from the chaos of the... 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Is it just them though? 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well I think it absolutely is. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I mean the Greens are hardly News Limited. Even they see it that way. 
 
MINISTER CONROY: Well they've got their own issues that they're trying to distract from, PK. The point that the Premier made this morning is absolutely right, we're focused on the issues that matter to Australians, like saving 1,000 direct jobs and 5,000 indirect jobs. The Liberals through this pathetic attempt are trying to distract from their chaos, from Senator Bragg's bizarre intervention yesterday, to the fact that they're not focused on cost of living and good paying, well-skilled jobs. That's what we're focused on; cost of living, advancing all Australians and making this country even better. And the PM again rejects the characterisation of that by the Opposition. 
 
PATRICIA KARVELAS: Minister, thanks for coming.
 
ENDS