Television Interview, Today Show

SUBJECT/S: Children online; Migration; Largest ADF in 25 years.

JAYNE AZZOPARDI, HOST: Australian parents are facing a major wake up call this morning as the radicalisation of children playing online video games is set to be investigated, for more Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles joins us now from Canberra. Good morning to you, Minister. ASIO says one in five priority counterterrorism cases now involve young people. Is this problem worse than we could ever have imagined?

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, it is a real challenge and it's obviously why, you know, we've been very focused on protecting children in terms of their engagement online. And it's also, you know, why we have the best security agencies in the world. But I think parents, you know, face a lot of concerns in respect of what online behaviour is doing in respect of their children. And the idea of radicalisation being amongst all of that is obviously an enormous concern for parents, which is again why we're so keen to make sure that we are providing children with their youth and we are doing our best to protect kids online.

AZZOPARDI: Well, when we hear that there's going to be a probe or an investigation into this, that's one thing. What about what happens at the other end? How can parents be assured it's actually going to achieve anything?

MARLES: Well, I mean, we are very focused on this, as focused on this as any government in the world, in terms of trying to protect our kids and their engagement online. And so you have literally globally groundbreaking laws in respect of that. But I think the other point to make is that in terms of radicalisation, specifically, our security organisations are amongst the best in the world. And so, you know, at both ends here, we are very much focused on protecting the Australian public, protecting Australian kids and acting very much in the interests of parents.

AZZOPARDI: Let's move on. Now, one nation has revealed that it plans a very deep cut to migration into this country. When are we going to see Labor's immigration plan?

MARLES: Well, we have seen Labor's immigration plan at the.

AZZOPARDI: No changes? 

MARLES: Sorry, we have seen our, our plan at the budget where we announced the net overseas migration rate target of 245,000. That's what we announced that last at the budget this year with that number coming down to 225,000 in the subsequent year. And we are putting in place policies now which are about achieving those numbers. So, we were really clear at the budget to have 245,000 as our non target. To be clear about this, Jane, you know, when we came to government immigration was too high. We brought it down by 40% relative to its peak. We want to bring it down further and taking it down to 245,000 represents that. And as I say that is what we announced in the budget, and that is what we are pursuing –

AZZOPARDI: When are we going to find out how you're going to do that? One nation has said how they're going to do it. How will you do it?

MARLES: Well, actually I don't think one nation has said how they're going to do it. And I think one issue that people need to be really clear about is that the kind of policies that one nation is talking about would be utterly detrimental to the Australian economy. And particularly in regional Australia. I mean regional doctors, regional universities, farmers having workers, aged care centres, having nurses. You know, all of that goes under the one nation policy and they've not been upfront about all of that. We have been clear in terms of what we're doing. You've seen the steps that we've taken in respect of student numbers, for example. They have historically been a big component to norm and we've brought them down dramatically in respect of the measures that we've taken there already. And we continue to put in place policies which achieve the target that which said in the budget of 245,000. So, so we are being clear, one nation is definitely not being clear about the impact of their policies.

AZZOPARDI: Is there any part of their policy that you like?

MARLES: I think the idea that you would be that a party would be putting forward policies which would have the effect of closing regional universities, which would have the effect of closing aged care centres when we have an age ageing population. I mean all of that they need to be very clear about because that is the consequence of what they are saying. Migration is an issue which has to be managed carefully. We have said it is too high, we need to be managing it down and we have been managing it down and we intend to do that further, as I say, by taking the net overseas migration rate to 245,000 in the year that we're in now, the financial year and now and then taking it down another 20,000 the year after that to 225. We've been really clear about that policy and we're implementing it.

AZZOPARDI: Ok, finally we're learning today that enlistments for the Australian Defence Force have reached a 16 year high. As Defence Minister, what do you put that down to and what message does it send to other countries like China in our region?

MARLES: Well, we've got a growing defence force again. That's the point to make here is 8,100 people have joined the Defence Force in the last year. We've now got a defence force at its largest number in a quarter of a century at 64,000. And to be clear, when we came to government, the Defence Force was shrinking. So, that's what we inherited lost 1400 people in the last year of the Coalition government. In the last year that we've just had, we've increased it by 8,100. We're being smarter about it, like we're recruiting people where they are, focusing our advertising on online where young people are. We are making sure that in trades and areas where we really need people, we're reducing the recruitment times. We've had some really innovative practices in terms of pop up recruitment centres which have made a big difference. You know, all of this as well as bringing the separation break down, that's encouraging people to stay in the Defence force has led to what we now have, which is the biggest defence force that we've had in a quarter of a century. And it's very important given the circumstances we face.

AZZOPARDI: Ok. Richard Marles, thank you for your time this morning.

ENDS