Radio Interview, ABC Hobart

SUBJECTS: ADF Leaving Macquarie Island, Submarine Production, Sale of defence land.

LEON COMPTON: Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry in Tasmania this morning. Pat Conroy, thanks for joining us in the studio.

MINISTER CONROY: Thank you for having me.

LEON COMPTON: Should we be nervous? We've decided, because of bird flu, to leave Macquarie Island. Is that a strategic risk? That's a gap that others can walk through.

MINISTER CONROY: Oh, no, I think people are focusing on the wrong issue there. We made decisions around the issues of bird flu that we have to manage. Obviously, there's plenty of Australia that doesn't actually have a military base on it. Doesn't mean it's undefended. We have the ability to monitor our territory very effectively through a range of assets, both aerial and naval, as well as long-range radar systems. So, I think people should just be assured that we're very good at monitoring our air-sea space, and we'll respond accordingly. But I don't think we should get engaged in these hypotheticals. I don't think it's productive.

LEON COMPTON: We'll get to defence land sales in a moment, which is another issue. No doubt you're getting asked about a lot. Phil Pike's criticism was Tasmania's missing out on lots of AUKUS-related expenditures. Let's talk about an investment announcement you will be making in Tasmania today. Today. What is it, please?

MINISTER CONROY: I'm announcing an $83 million contract to a brilliant Tassie company called CBG, and they're providing $83 million worth of goods to the first three Hunter-class naval vessels to provide really important insulation. This insulation will keep the ships cool, but more importantly, quiet. These ships are designed to hunt submarines, so the ability to be very quiet is critical. So, this is a great investment that will support 40 local jobs here. This is on top of an announcement I made yesterday for a contract for Sentinel boats to support our special forces that will allow them to grow their workforce by 50 per cent. Tassie's got a great defence industry that's doing really good work on major projects. I don't think it gets the attention it deserves because it's normally in the supply chain rather than a big whopping shipyard. But it's really important. It supports hundreds of high-skill, well-paid jobs that contribute to the defence of the nation.

LEON COMPTON: Why don't we have a shipyard? Phil Pyke making the criticism that tens of billions of dollars have been allocated to the AUKUS contracts. South Australia, Western Australia, particularly benefiting there. I mean, why isn't Tasmania getting that sort of equivalent when it comes to the building of things, you know, that it's going into, into the broader defence of Australia?

MINISTER CONROY: Well, the previous coalition government closed down two naval shipyards costing thousands of Melbourne, one in the Hunter Valley and decided to concentrate shipbuilding in Adelaide and Henderson in WA. It's too late to change that. We only need two large naval construction yards in this country, but there's lots of jobs supporting that work as well as other defence projects. We're increasing the defence budget by $117 billion over the next decade, and that's supporting jobs throughout Australia, including Tassie. We've got this maritime precinct down around the Derwent River. We've got Elphinstone in Northern Tasmania providing really critical inputs into our infantry fighting vehicles. There are hundreds of high-skilled defence industry jobs in Tassie, and I expect that to grow, and the announcements I made yesterday and today will help them grow.

LEON COMPTON: What about the sale of defence lands? And my guest this morning, if you're just tuning in, Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry, please send in a question. 043-892-2936 is the number. What would you like to know from Pat Conroy this morning? So, let's talk about land sales. I mean the Derwent Barracks, but also in Devonport, in Burnie, in Launceston, land up for sale. The places in Tasmania, the large tracts of land that you could fire an SLR are being put up for sale as well. Should Tasmanians be concerned about the way that you've decided to approach this?

MINISTER CONROY: No, they should be reassured that we're following independent advice and using taxpayers’ money frugally. Independent review found that just north of 60 defence estate sites were providing very little strategic value but were costing billions of dollars to maintain. These sites will cost a billion dollars over the next 10 years to maintain for no strategic benefit to this nation. 

LEON COMPTON: There was, I mean, there are some, including Phil Pyke, suggesting under these land sales there would be nowhere that a reservist or a regular soldier could fire a rifle on Army land in Tasmania if your land sale sites go ahead.

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we've been very clear that we are pursuing arrangements to allow people to do the appropriate test and exercise that they need

LEON COMPTON: Does that mean it’d have to happen on some sort of private or -

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we're pursuing flexible arrangements that will allow that... This is about using taxpayers’ money wisely. How can we say to taxpayers, we're going to increase the defence budget by $117 billion over the next decade but not make the hard but necessary decisions to get rid of parts of the defence of state that don't provide strategic value. That's a billion dollars that we'd be spending over the next decade that doesn't support the defence of the nation. That is money that doesn't have a strategic utility. That billion dollars can be better spent equipping the ADF for the threats that we face, as well as liberating $3 billion through the sale that will be reinvested in the defence. These are hard decisions -

LEON COMPTON: Are you acknowledging that there wont be defence-owned land in Australia after these land sales go through? Sorry, defence-owned land in Tasmania where a soldier could fire a rifle?

MINISTER CONROY: No, I'm saying that we have appropriate systems being put in place to allow cadets and ADF units to fire their small arms. That's part of the process. But we can't afford to waste that billion dollars on maintenance for sites that don't provide strategic value. We're making the hard decisions that previous governments of both persuasions have squipped. How can we say to taxpayers we're going to increase the defence budget, but not stop spending money on areas that don't provide strategic value? The alternative is to waste a billion dollars on assets that don't provide a strategic benefit to this nation, and I'm not going to do that. Richard Marles is not going to do that. That is the wrong call for this country. We're making the right decisions to defend this nation and guard taxpayers’ money.

LEON COMPTON: And how much concern have you heard from Tasmanians in defence about your plans to sell off, it seems, the majority of defence sites in Tasmania under this strategy?

MINISTER CONROY: Oh, look, I understand this is controversial and I really acknowledge that people in Tasmania have got a real connection to these sites and a real connection to the ADF. Tasmanians serve in the ADF at a disproportionately high rate, and I'm really grateful for that. But we're in the gravest strategic circumstances since World War II. We're seeing a regional arms race. We have to make the hard decisions to defend this nation and spend taxpayers’ money wisely. The alternative is to waste money and diminish the defence of the nation.

LEON COMPTON: I'm interested in your campaign to save money, which I mean some of the well-known cost blowouts that happen during defence procurement is something that I know you've been thinking about and restructuring defence for in recent times. Can we talk about the Collins-class submarine and what feels like a massive capability gap that'll be left while the old Collins-class submarines sort of puff on, and the replacement of those submarines with new subs from wherever they come from, America and the United Kingdom. Like, how worried should Australians be that there is a capability gap that will be nearly treasonous when it comes to defending our approaches?

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we're working very hard and we're confident that we solve that capability gap, but we shouldn't be in this situation. We're in this situation because the last government chopped and changed submarine contracts. First, we were going to build 12 in Adelaide, then we were going to buy them off the Japanese. Then they contracted the French, and then they cancelled the French contract and went for the AUKUS submarines. They wasted a decade, which means we're now extending the life of the Collins-class, and that project is working right now to extend them. And at the same time, we've got the interim solution through AUKUS, of acquiring Virginia submarines from the United States, with the first to arrive in early 2030. So, we're confident that we've bridged the capability gap.

LEON COMPTON: Is that going to happen? I mean, Donald Trump could decide that anything might happen tomorrow. How confident can anyone be that America is going to deliver submarines on any sort of timeline?

MINISTER CONROY: I'm confident because it's in their national interest as well as ours. AUKUS is not an act of charity. It's in the national interest of all three countries for us to build the capability to manufacture nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarines in this country and acquire those Virginias as an interim step. I'm very confident about that. But look, I'd love to have a time machine, Leon, and I've gone back 10, 15 years and not seen that chopping and changing that the last government did. We're paying the price of that. We're also paying the price of their failure to reform defence, which we're doing as well. We're standing up the Defence Delivery Agency, an independent executive agency that will be the best project management agency in the Commonwealth. We're moving 40 per cent of the defence budget out. We're establishing 10,000 positions to drive defence reform, make sure that the capability we need gets delivered on time and on budget and to spec. But these are important decisions. As I said. I'd love to have a time machine, but I don't.

LEON COMPTON: When will you be making final decisions about the land sale process right around Tasmania for divesting yourself of defence assets?

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we've made the decision that we're going down this process. We've staged them in three stages of transfer to the Department of Finance to go through that process. Acknowledge that this is controversial, but it's the right decision for the nation because we can't afford to waste a billion dollars on assets that don't deliver strategic value to the Commonwealth. I won't allow that to happen. That's not what a responsible government does.

LEON COMPTON: It's been good to see you in the studio. Thank you for coming in.

MINISTER CONROY: My pleasure, Leon.

LEON COMPTON: Pat Conroy, Defence Industry Minister.

ENDS