Doorstop, Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Largest ADF in 25 years; Migration; AI; Strengthening Community Safety program; Children online; Airline declarations; Defence exports. 

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Today we are announcing that the Australian Defence Force has grown to 64,000 over the course of the last year. This is the largest the Defence Force has been in the quarter of a century. In the last year, we've recruited 8,100 people. That's the largest intake that we've had in 16 years. To put this in context, when we came to government, the Defence Force was shrinking. In the last year of the Coalition government it actually shrunk by 1,400 people. So we've completely turned this around and we've done this by much better recruiting, by focusing on where people are at in terms of more emphasis online, less on TV. We've had really innovative recruitment practices such as pop-up recruiting centres, which have been very effective. We're pulling people through the recruitment process much quicker, that's been important. But we're also paying people more across the Defence Force, particularly in those trades where we need more people. We are making the Defence Force a better place to work. And all of this now means that we have the largest full time force that we've had in a quarter of a century, which is great news given that our country faces very challenging strategic times, and we need to be growing our Defence Force.

JOURNALIST: Just on those numbers, how do you go about, I guess, in this push for recruitment and more people to join the ADF, making sure that you're still getting the right people and vetting in all of that process?

MARLES: All a good question. I mean, we are very much focused on the trades that we particularly need. So there are some areas where there's never really been a challenge in terms of recruiting people, but there are other trades within the Defence Force where we do need to find people, and so that's been our focus. And that's why, on all of these issues in terms of pay, in terms of shortening recruitment time, we've really focused on the greatest areas of need. Obviously we go through all the medical checks, all the security checks. All of that can be done and we're doing that in a much more efficient way. So it is able to be achieved. But we need to be doing this because we have an ambitious target to grow our Defence Force through until 2040. That is important. We do need a bigger Defence Force given the circumstances that we face. But we've now turned the ship around relative to what we inherited, and we're on the path. 

JOURNALIST: Deputy Prime Minister, what is that 2040 target? How big? What's the optimal size you'd like for the headcount of the Defence Force? 

MARLES: Well, we are seeking to grow it significantly from where we are now. There's still a long way to go through until 2040, and we are taking other measures, for example, recruiting people from Five Eyes countries who are permanent residents, as well as looking at recruitment from our Pacific neighbors, and I think all of that will play a part in helping as well. But it is– what we've been able to achieve so far in terms of turning recruitment numbers around and actually growing the Defence Force is a really big step in the right direction.

JOURNALIST: We've seen OpenAI issue an ultimatum to the federal government saying that they won't invest in the renewable energy for the data centers unless the government waters down the copyright laws for Australian creatives. Will the government reconsider that?

MARLES: Well firstly, I think it's overstating the comments that OpenAI have actually made. I was in America the week before last. I met Sam Altman from OpenAI as I did meet Dario Amodei from Anthropic and the other major tech companies. The training of AI in Australia is a real opportunity for our country, and that's in economic terms. It is very much in national security terms and very much in national sovereignty terms. And it's an opportunity that, as a government, we are very focused on taking. The Prime Minister was very clear about that in the speech he made in July. But it needs to be on terms which are in Australia's national interest. We have to be protecting rightsholders, copyright holders, and that's news organisations, it's creatives. The Prime Minister was also very clear about that. I think the point here is you can do both. You know, in speaking with these companies, as I was the week before last, but also in speaking with news organisations here in Australia, seeing what they need, it is possible to do both here. And this is what good government is about. We really need to be pursuing this opportunity. It is a historic opportunity for our nation, but it is about making sure that we pursue this opportunity in the national interest and on Australia's terms, and that's what we are about.

JOURNALIST: Can I just ask you, a story in the SMH this morning about Labor giving CCTV cameras and additional crime funding to marginal or Labor held seats. What's your message to voters who maybe live in a safe seat that's not Labor held and feel like they may be getting a bit of a bum deal here?

MARLES: Well look, with all of those programs, and I'm not across the specific of it, but with all of those programs, they are done in accordance with guidelines and in accordance with a merits-based process and where those projects have been funded is where there has been need. 

JOURNALIST: ACCI CEO Andrew McKellar says it's important that the government get its immigration policy out there otherwise Pauline Hanson’s leading the debate to things like net negative migration, possibly a recession. How soon will we see your migration policy? 

MARLES: Look, our policy is out there. In the Budget, we announced that we would take the net overseas migration rate to 245,000 in the financial year that we're currently in, and in the following financial year, bring it down to 225,000. Now both of those numbers represent a reduction from where it has been. We've brought migration down by 40% relative to its peak. Migration plays a really important part within our society, most certainly within our economy, but it needs to be properly calibrated against what services we have, what infrastructure we have. It was too high when we came to government. We have been managing it down from its peak. The 245,000 number that was announced in the Budget represents a further reduction, and we are in the business of pursuing that target. And that's where our policy is at. Now, what One Nation is articulating here is something that would tank the economy. I mean, what you would be seeing is closures of regional universities. You would have aged care centers without nurses; they would need to close as well. You would have farms unable to bring in their crops, their harvest; that would be impossible for them. One Nation need to be upfront with the Australian people and make it clear that when they start talking about those numbers, that's the consequence. That's actually their policy. Their policy is therefore to close regional universities and to close aged care centers around the country, but in regional Australia as well. That is what we are talking about in terms of what One Nation is saying and they need to be upfront about that. We are very clear about what our policy is, about how we are pursuing it, and doing that in a very thoughtful and calibrated way. 

JOURNALIST: Just on another article in The Daily Telegraph and The Oz, the stories about young people being increasingly radicalised online. Do you think this is a problem where parents maybe need to step in and do a bit more, or is this something that should be in the government's hands to crack down on?

MARLES: Well, I think, you know, it's a really challenging environment for parents, is what I would say. I mean, anyone with a teenage kid engaging online would know the sense of anxiety that is being felt by parents around Australia. That is why we have had literally world-leading laws in terms of trying to protect our kids in respect of their engagement online, making sure that kids are entitled to have their youth. This notion of radicalisation is just another dimension to it, and again one which will be really concerning for parents. So the laws that we are putting in place are really important in respect of that. I'd also say, in terms of radicalisation specifically, we have amongst the best security agencies in the world, and that should be providing Australian parents with some comfort as well. But this is a real challenge. The government is very focused on it, and that's why we're taking the steps that we have.

JOURNALIST: We've seen Catherine King given a premium Qantas status for life. Is that appropriate for the transport minister?

MARLES: Well look, I mean, people who travel a lot – politicians travel a lot, the transport minister travels a lot – this is what happens with airlines. They do this. I don't think there's much to see here. Catherine King has appropriately declared it, but it's a function of how much she travels. And you would want our transport minister, someone in her position who's been in the Parliament for a considerable period of time with great experience to be traveling the country and engaging with Australians all over all over the nation. 

JOURNALIST: She’s declared it, but should she decline it?

MARLES: I mean, these things are– airlines give those statuses to people who travel a lot. That's what's happened here. She's appropriately declared it. 

JOURNALIST: Do you have a lifetime platinum status yourself? 

MARLES: To be honest, I'm not sure. I know I travel a lot. I do my best to declare all of the things as I appropriately should. 

JOURNALIST: We've received word from one of our listeners that there was a security incident at a RAAF base in Darwin, also involving US troops. Are you able to possibly elaborate on that? 

MARLES: I'm actually not across the detail of that, so I'll need to go and investigate that. 

JOURNALIST: Crossbenchers are going to introduce a package to impose so-called red lines that would block defence exports to certain countries found guilty of committing war crimes. What do you make of this?

MARLES: We have a very strict defence export control legislation and regime in place. I'm responsible for implementing that. I mean, firstly, defence exports are really important in terms of building an Australian defence industry, and that's really important for our own national capability and our own national sovereignty. But we do have a very extensive regime in place, which takes into account all our humanitarian obligations here and all our human rights obligations, and that is applied appropriately and strictly.

ENDS