Opening Remarks, US-Australia Defence Ministers Meeting

SUBJECT/S: US-Australia Defence relationship; ANZUS

US SECRETARY OF WAR, PETE HEGSETH: Well, Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, thank you so much for being here. It's great to see you again.  It hasn't been that long since we've crossed paths, and that's been regular during the entirety of this administration — and I think a reflection of the deepening partnership at a personal level between our administrations; between our countries; between our militaries; between our defence industrial bases that goes back, I believe today, all the way back 75 years.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Correct.

HEGSETH: So, a fitting day to be sitting down and talking. And, you know, we share a common picture of the complex threat picture in the world today and the need for allies to both plan together, but also ensure our capabilities match and are complementary if and when something were to have to take place.

So, thank you for your leadership. Thanks for being here for our ongoing friendship militarily, and I look forward to building on that as we — I know we'll see each other again in just a couple of months for the two plus two. So, great to see you and your team, and welcome to the Pentagon, as well.

MARLES: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Pete, it's great to be here again. As you said, we're meeting on the 75th anniversary of the formal alliance between Australia and the United States. And that's been an alliance which has been the cornerstone of our foreign policy, our strategic policy, over that period of time. And it really emanates from the Second World War, during which a million American service personnel used Australia as a base to project north and win the Second World War in the Pacific theatre.

And it's an example in the past of America's use of the Australian continent, which feels very pertinent today. As you said, I think I was your first counterpart that you met, having been sworn in as the then Secretary of Defense, now Secretary of War, and it was an honour for me to be able to meet you in that context. But since then, we have met on numerous occasions, which befits the closeness of the defence relationship. I think we feel that we live in a world which is increasingly challenging, where the strategic threat is growing, it's not receding. And in that context, the alliance that we have and the partnership that we have at a personal level, but very much between our two defence forces, our two countries, is as important and relevant today as it has ever been. And I'm really looking forward to having conversations about that and, as you say, particularly in the lead up to the AUSMIN meeting later in the year.

HEGSETH: Well, welcome. I agree with everything. Thank you.

ENDS