Press Conference, Sydney

SUBJECTS: Bluebottles for Fiji; workplace safety in the ADF; support for Ukraine; Australia-Europe free trade agreement.

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY, PAT CONROY: Questions first about today’s announcement and then broader defence and then news of the day. Any questions about today’s announcement? 

JOURNALIST: Minister, where do you see these being deployed? What sort of areas in terms of [indistinct]? 

MINISTER CONROY: I’ll see if Admiral Buckley wants to add to it, but they’re being deployed right now through Operation Resolute to protect our borders. And that’s playing a critical role. Fifteen are being used by the Navy right now. We’re acquiring another 40. They will be equipped to do intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, including the ability to detect submarines. That’s a really important capability. And as I said, they’ll be deployed to the south west Pacific to help deal with the scourge of drug smuggling. 

I’ll see if Vice Admiral Buckley wants to add. 

VICE ADMIRAL MATT BUCKLEY: Thanks, Minister. I mean, the beauty of these capabilities is they’re incredibly flexible. Not only can we deploy them for many, many months at a time in our northern approaches but we can put them in a container, we can stick them in the back of an aircraft or a ship and therefore deploy and anywhere that we want to operate in the Indian or Pacific. And they can stay out at sea for many, many months at a time, survive a couple of cyclones. So very resilient, very versatile. And, you know, we’re really excited to have this capability. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, will the Bluebottles in Fiji be under police command or under navy command? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, there’ll be under the command of the Government of Fiji. Whether they use it through their navy or their police force, that’s up to them. They’ll be sovereign assets of the Fijian Government. We’ll work closely with them. We supported the construction of the Maritime Essential Services Centre, the MESC. That is a great capability not just for Fiji but for the broader region. And they’re at the heart of the Waqa Moana initiative, $600 million cross-Pacific initiative to tackle the scourge of drug smuggling. 

JOURNALIST: And how many Bluebottles will you supply to Fiji? 

MINISTER CONROY: We’re not at liberty to discuss the final number for operational reasons right now. Obviously it will tip off drug smugglers. But the first one will be being deployed early next year. 

Any other questions? 

SPEAKER: I’ll just check, sir, if there’s any- Anna, do you have anything from the gallery on defence? 

JOURNALIST: I have a defence question. 

MINISTER CONROY: Any more on Bluebottles first. 

SPEAKER: On Bluebottles? 

JOURNALIST: Bluebottles first. 

SPEAKER: Bluebottles first. 

JOURNALIST: Absolutely. Then we have some other questions on broader issues for defence, so thank you. Just in relation to the capability here, is this capability also potentially able to detect things like submarines travelling under the surface or other things [indistinct] and movement from maritime capacity of other nations? 

MINISTER CONROY: Absolutely. These will be one of the critical intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance platforms for the Royal Australian Navy. They are equipped with a sonar right now which has the ability to detect both vessels on the surface but also submarines as well as radars and a range of other optical detection devices. So these absolutely will be part of a layered approach to detecting submarines and surface vessels. 

And the beauty of them is that they are quiet – they’re literally powered by the sun, the waves and the wind – so that they are very hard to detect themselves. They are virtually impossible to detect unless you get very close to them. So that gives us a real operational advantage when you’re trying to detect submarines. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, can I ask a question – 

MINISTER CONROY: Any more questions about Bluebottles? 

JOURNALIST: You mentioned the destination for the drugs is Australia. 

MINISTER CONROY: And New Zealand. 

JOURNALIST: And New Zealand. 

MINISTER CONROY: Don’t forget New Zealand. 

JOURNALIST: Okay. Can you tell us a little bit more about the capability and the cooperation between Australia and the Pacific nations around this particular issue? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we are providing direct bilateral cooperation with countries like Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu are three examples, as well as regional support. So we have the Pacific Maritime Surveillance Program where we provide Guardian-class patrol boats to almost every Pacific nation that they run. So that’s a patrol boat capability. We also have an aerial surveillance program that we are increasing funding for at the moment. We in fact have a live tender out at the moment. So we’ve got maritime vessels that we provide, aerial surveillance that we provide as well, and we have strong cooperation through the Australian Federal Police, Border Force and Customs. And, on top of that, we announced a $600 million Waqa Moana initiative that the Prime Minister announced at the Palau PIF last month. All that is about us supporting the Pacific. As a proud Pacific nation we’re part of regional efforts. Pacific security should come from within the Pacific, and that’s what we’re doing right now. 

Excellent. Well, we might – any others about this? No? We might let [indistinct] escape. Thank you very much. Any other questions about defence? 

JOURNALIST: Yes, Minister. Danuta Kozaki, ABC News. What reassurance will you give the women serving our country that they won’t have recording devices on board ships? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I’ll invite Vice Admiral Buckley to comment about the role that he is performing here, but I was shocked and appalled by what we saw on HMAS Leeuwin. Every ADF personnel should have the right to operate with dignity and respect, and that did not occur in this instance. That’s why there’s a Military Police investigation going on right now, and there’s one person cooperating with that inquiry right now. 

Vice Admiral Buckley, quite rightly, has ordered a review of all naval vessels to make sure that there are no other recording devices. We’ve been very upfront that we’re committed to changing the culture of the ADF. It is improving, but we’ve got a long way to go, and that’s a commitment of the senior leadership of the ADF as well as the political leadership through the Deputy Prime Minister, myself and Minister Keogh. 

But I’ll see if Vice Admiral Buckley would like to add. 

CHIEF OF NAVY, VICE ADMIRAL BUCKLEY: Yeah, thanks, Minister. As I said to our people yesterday, this is a despicable act, an incredible betrayal of trust for the amazing men and women of our navy. It does not define our navy. And we absolutely must act with alacrity to ensure we provide a safe workplace for our people. Only last night we completed a hundred per cent audit of the entire fleet to ensure that there were no such similar devices. We will, of course, rigorously review our procedures to make sure that we don’t have a recurrence of this event. And as I said to our people, I am absolutely determined that we will hold this perpetrator to account.

JOURNALIST: Vice Admiral, do you know if any of the images were livestreamed? 

VICE ADMIRAL BUCKLEY: I do not know that any of the images were livestreamed. And the investigation is still underway at this stage. 

JOURNALIST: And have you had any discussions with any of the women on board or anyone impacted? 

VICE ADMIRAL BUCKLEY: I’ve spoken to some of the impacted people. I sent the Warrant Officer, Navy. She went up to Cairns immediately after finding out. She only flew back last night. She had a one-on-one with the crew, with any of the impacted people. That was an important opportunity for us to do so. And our people need to understand that we have their interests at heart. It’s the most important thing we do. And to make sure that they’ve got a safe environment and getting rid of sexual violence of any type has to be our priority. It’s the most important thing because we need to do that to ensure we have the trust of all people in the ADF in our workforce. 

JOURNALIST: Were there concerns addressed to you by women serving our country? 

VICE ADMIRAL BUCKLEY: I have spoken to a number of our sailors. As you would expect, many of them have raised this with the leadership of the Navy. And I have given them the exact same commitment as I’ve just said here on camera and in my message to them. We have to listen to their concerns and we have to respond appropriately to what they need to feel that they safe in their workplace. That’s critical. 

JOURNALIST: And what guarantees will you have this won’t happen again?

VICE ADMIRAL BUCKLEY: We will do everything that we physically can, put all of our resources to make sure that these events do not occur again. 

JOURNALIST: We saw at Land Forces that there was a need for a national discussion on readiness and preparedness, and the RSL Australia has just prepared a framework for national preparation and readiness. Is the Government late to the party on that issue? 

MINISTER CONROY: Absolutely not. And I’ll see if Minister Ayres wants to add to this, because he’s got an incredibly important role in national resilience and he’s doing a great job on that. We identified this in the 2023 Defence Strategic Review, a need to lock at defence beyond the borders of the Department of Defence and the ADF and the need to mobilise the nation in terms of readiness and preparedness. And, in fact, we titled our key chief defence strategy the National Defence Strategy for that intentional reason – it’s about national defence that does not end at Russell or the ADF. 

Today is a great example of that. We’re mobilising companies that have never done business with Defence before to supply the ADF because there are 100,000 people in the defence industry and we need that to grow. And we’ll do that by tapping the brewing innovation and entrepreneurship of the broader Australian industry. 

Tim, anything you wanted to add? 

MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION,TIM AYRES: I’ll just say very quickly, this is a government that has since its election put resilience at the core of our industrial and economic strategy. The budget this year, two things – reform and resilience. And resilience is the core of that. We have the biggest pro-manufacturing policy platform of any government in Australian history, from dealing with securing our heavy industrial capability in places like Central Queensland and the Hunter through to announcements like this that deliver the most advanced Australian manufacturing capability in the interests of our national security and our defence. 

SPEAKER: Boss, we’ve got probably time for one more. Anna, did you have anything on the line there? 

JOURNALIST: Yeah, we do have a couple here, so appreciate your patience. [Indistinct] Channel Seven as well. So, yeah, we have [indistinct] questions [indistinct]. 

SPEAKER: Well, we might – let’s start. 

JOURNALIST: Yes. Minister, Tom [indistinct] from Channel Seven. The US President has stepped in to stop the broadcast of the Pentagon’s execution this morning. What’s the government’s reaction to that? [Indistinct] broadcasting to the Australian people? 

MINISTER CONROY: Look, we welcome the decision of the Trump administration. I, like many other Australians, were very concerned about livestreaming of an execution, and we are just very relieved by the decision. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, can I ask you on a separate matter – either minister – the Opposition has said they won’t approve or don’t condone the trade deal with the EU. Are you open to further talks with the EU given this position in the Australian Senate? 

MINISTER AYRES: Well, let me make this very clear: there is only one government, one party in Australia that is serious about delivering free and fair trade for Australian industry. This is a very sharp economic test for Angus Taylor and the Liberals and Nationals of their economic credibility. There’s a binary position – vote for a top-shelf, top-quality European-Australia free trade agreement with this giant market for Australian industry, or vote against it. It is a test of their economic credibility, and they need to think through very clearly what their approach will be. 

JOURNALIST: Were you surprised given that [indistinct] starts on free trade? 

MINISTER AYRES: It just demonstrates that they have drifted so far from the mainstream interests of Australians and of Australian industry that they are prepared to scuttle investment, firms, jobs, opportunity, in order for a sort of inside baseball Canberra political game. This is not a game. This is about a trade agreement with 400 million Europeans ready to buy Australian goods that drops barriers to entry for Australian firms to Europe. It’s a test for Angus Taylor – can he deliver mainstream economic credibility for the Liberals or will he walk away from it? 

SPEAKER: One more from the phone. We’ve got time for one more from the phone. 

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] ask one question [indistinct]. [Indistinct] I wanted to get your response to the fact that the Greens Leader David Shoebridge when interviewed [indistinct] today [indistinct] concerns about [indistinct] producers [indistinct] Australia and [indistinct] concern [indistinct] future. What [indistinct] the Greens do about – 

MINISTER CONROY: Do you want to ask the question to Tim as well, and then I’ll address it? 

JOURNALIST: Thank you. And to Minister Ayres, there’s been [indistinct] around Chinese [indistinct]. You’re obviously aware of details of [indistinct], but are you now prepared to retaliate [indistinct] China, and why do you think this action is justified? Thank you. 

MINISTER CONROY: Thanks, Anna. I’m going to respectfully correct your question, slightly there. The Greens haven’t voiced concern about providing military aid to the people of Ukraine; they’ve said they’re opposed to it. Just reflect on that for a moment. The Greens political party’s official position is that they would stop Australia providing military assistance to the brave people of Ukraine in their valiant struggle to defend their nation against Vladimir Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of their homeland. Think about that for a moment. 

This is a betrayal of Ukraine. This is a betrayal of Ukrainian Australians, and it makes no sense. It makes no sense that they would do this. And for them to act as hopefully unwitting puppets of Vladimir Putin is a national shame, and they should have a long hard look at themselves. 

This is another example of the extreme left of Australian politics and the extreme right of Australian politics going full circle and meeting. You’ve got Pauline Hanson saying that Vladimir Putin is a strong leader, and you’ve got David Shoebridge assisting Vladimir Putin – sorry, you’ve got David Shoebridge assisting Vladimir Putin by saying that we shouldn’t provide military assistance to Ukraine. It’s a betrayal and it’s a disgrace, and it shows that they’re a deeply unserious party that can’t be trusted with any part of government. 

MINISTER AYRES: Well, thanks. Thanks very much for the question, Anna, about the preliminary determination of the Australian Trade Remedies Commission. This is a preliminary decision. It is part of our framework, WTO-compliant framework, that deals with dumping in the Australian [indistinct]. We’ve built the Australian Trade Remedies Commission, legislated it through the parliament, to make sure that we’ve got a strong, modern, fit-for-purpose Trade Remedies Commission to make sure that Australian industry is on a level playing field. You know, 80 per cent of Australian windows and doors that Australians purchase are made here. And I expect, like the Albanese Government, Australians will continue to back Australian industry. 

The real test today and over the next few weeks on a commitment to free and fair trade and a test on economic credibility is whether Angus Taylor and the Liberals will vote for the European-Australia free trade agreement. Whether they will scuttle, using their votes in the Senate, undermine Australia’s economy and Australia’s exporters by voting against that deal. That would be the end of the Liberals and Nationals’ mainstream economic credibility. 

SPEAKER: All right, take care, everybody.

ENDS