Source: Australia Government Statements 2
Host, Sally Sara: Pat Conroy is the Minister for Defence Industry and Minister for Pacific Island Affairs – and joins me now. Minister, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.
Minister for Pacific Island Affairs, Pat Conroy: Thanks for having me.
Sara: I need to ask you the ‘Are we there yet question?’. When are you expecting the results of this review from the Pentagon about AUKUS?
Conroy: We know it’s very imminent and so we expect it shortly, but we’re not in a position to announce when that is. That’s a decision for the U.S. Government. But we take a lot of confidence in what President Trump said in his historic meeting with Prime Minister Albanese that AUKUS is going ahead – full steam ahead. And we saw that on display yesterday at HMAS Stirling with the USS Vermont undergoing maintenance at our naval base. This is the deepest level of maintenance that’s ever occurred outside U.S. territory and had Australian workers performing maintenance on a U.S. submarine. And it demonstrates that AUKUS is on track and we’re hitting all our key milestones.
Sara: Are you expecting this AUKUS Review by the end of the year? Is that the kind of timeframe we’re in?
Conroy: Well, we’re not going to get drawn into speculating about the timeframes. We expect it to be imminent. But we’re getting on with the job as is the U.S. system. And President Trump said is that it’s full steam ahead and we’re seeing that momentum in all levels of the U.S. system. The maintenance period for the Vermont is going very well. It includes Australian innovations including metal fabrication to support the conning tower, including a water purification plant that is a world’s first to make sure that there’s pure water going to the submarine – these are all driving jobs. They’re driving value add for the Alliance. And it’s just another example of AUKUS proving the detractor’s wrong and that we’re getting on with it.
Sara: So, how significant is the announcement of this first contractor to the construction of Virginia-class submarines?
Conroy: This is very significant. We’re running two separate qualification programs where we’re qualifying Australian companies to produce parts for not just our submarines but the U.S. and U.K. submarines. This is a great way of building our sovereign industrial base to build our own submarines in Adelaide and that will contribute to the 20,000 jobs that AUKUS will deliver. HIFraser’s the first company to qualify to produce three valves and pipe fittings for the U.S. Virginia-class submarines. And that means more jobs for Australians. But it also helps the U.S. increase the industrial base supporting their submarines. They’re ramping up production – that’s important for us. And having great Australian companies like HIFraser as part of that process is a is a definition of a win-win.
Sara You’re listening to Radio National Breakfast. You’re hearing from the Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy. Minister, the Opposition Leader, Sussan Ley will give a national security speech tonight at the Menzies Institute in Melbourne. She’s expected to express concern about the nation’s fuel supply. Does Australia have enough oil to meet its domestic needs if there were a serious global supply chain disruption?
Conroy: Well, we’re working on increasing our fuel supply, both how much is held in Australia as well as a maritime reserve shipping fleet to make sure that we can transport it around. We’ve been very clear that what we inherited from the last government was unacceptable. They consistently breached the IEA 90-day standards and they tried to satisfy it through saying that they had options of fuel in Texas. We’re working to build our fuel reserves. In the defence industry, for example, we’ve provided grants to look at fuel refining in this country. We’ll continue the work on that – but Sussan Ley’s got no credibility on that, nor does she have credibility on the broader defence issues. When they were in government, they were a disaster zone. They cut $20 billion from the defence budget in secret and added $42 billion worth of spending promises without increasing the budget.
Sara: Labor’s already had a term to sort out this fuel issue. Why haven’t you been able to sort it out?
Conroy: Well, we are working on it – and we’ll continue to do so. We’ve increased the defence budget by $70 billion, which is the biggest increase in the defence budget in peacetime ever. And we’re providing capability at speed to the Australian Defence Force. We’re also obviously working on where we can increase fuel reserves and that continues to be a work in progress. But I’m not going to say to your listeners that it’s solved – but it’s a work in progress that we’ll continue to work on.
Sara: A question about conventions when it comes to defence and politics. So, this week the PM wore a Navy baseball cap during a press conference while criticising the Coalition. Does that meet those conventions about having some separation there?
Conroy: Oh, absolutely. Those conventions go to hiding behind uniforms to make political attacks. The PM wasn’t wearing a uniform. I was wearing the same cap. We were wearing those caps for two reasons. One, we were celebrating an important milestone in the development of AUKUS. And secondly, we were doing a press conference in the full sun. So, you’re sensible to be wearing caps. I think people are reaching for a very long bow to draw any connection between that and Scott Morrison doing press conferences at RAAF bases with Top Gun music being played and red carpets being laid out. We were very careful in what we were announcing. It was not a political announcement. It was about progress in AUKUS. And as part of that, at the end of the press conference, the PM was asked questions about other matters of the day. I think they’re a bit silly if they think of that as a comparison to what Scott Morrison was doing.
Sara: Let’s talk about COP. Given the stalemate with Türkiye over competing bids to host next year’s COP Climate Conference, is Australia preparing to withdraw its proposal completely?
Conroy: We’re continuing to negotiate the best possible outcome for progress on climate action and to draw attention to what’s occurring in the Pacific. And so we are still negotiating – we’re still seeking to win the rights to host the COP in conjunction with the Pacific. But we’re also being frank with the Australian people that the U.N. Framework Convention has consensus rules – which means that any one country can block a successful bid. So, we’re working through that process. We’re still seeking to host COP – but we’ve been very clear that our focus is on getting a positive outcome for climate action and highlighting what is going on in the Pacific. And what we’ve also alerted people to is that if resolution can’t be achieved by the end of the week, the U.N. rules mean that the climate conference would devolve to Bonn in Germany and the Germans aren’t particularly keen to host it. And that would remove the opportunity to highlight the impact of climate change in the Pacific. So, we are working through a number of options. We’ve said that we would not veto Türkiye if they were chosen. They haven’t been chosen yet, but we would not veto it. And we would obviously look at what would be the options to highlight what’s going on in the Pacific. And that could include a high-level leader’s meeting in the Pacific as well as a pledging event at the COP aimed at building support for the Pacific Resilience Facility, which we are the largest funder of at the moment. So, we’re very focused on strong climate outcomes and supporting the Pacific.
Sara: Would it be fair to say that Australia would be prepared to abandon its bid as long as Pacific nations are guaranteed a role in next year’s conference wherever it’s held?
Conroy: What I can say to you is we are absolutely determined to see this result. That’s really important, firstly so that we avoid a COP in Bonn without a COP President, without a Pacific focus – and we are very focused on acting in the national interest, including a positive outcome for the Pacific. Chris Bowen is busily negotiating in Brazil right now and we’ll see how the next couple of days go. But we’ve made very clear, we respect the U.N. process, and our ultimate aim is to advance the national interest and support a strong Pacific outcome.
Sara: Minister, thank you for your time this morning.
Conroy: Thanks, Sally. Have a great day. Bye.