Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Defence Minister Richard Marles says has announced funding for the NT’s defence bases and barracks as part of the Defence Strategic Review

Transcript

Defence Minister Richard Marles says has announced funding for the NT’s defence bases and barracks as part of the Defence Strategic Review · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It does look as though we've got the federal Defense
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Minister on the line right now.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Richard Miles, Good morning to your minister.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, really well, now we know that obviously. Earlier in
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the week, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanesi said that Australia
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: faces the greatest strategic challenges since World War Two, as
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the government unveiled its response to the landmark Defense Review. Minister,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: there has been a lot of discussion over the last
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: couple of days in the Northern Territory wondering what this
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  Speaker 1: review means for the Northern Territory. And you're here today
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  Speaker 1: and making a fairly significant announcement.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look we are. And the answer your question is
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  Speaker 3: it's hugely significant for the Northern Territory because one of
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  Speaker 3: the things that the Defense Strategic Review does is think
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  Speaker 3: about what our defense course needs to do in the future,
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  Speaker 3: and a large part of that is having a much
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  Speaker 3: greater predurability to project and our northern base and right
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  Speaker 3: here in Darwen and the Northern Territory is the place
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  Speaker 3: from which we do that projection. And so today we're
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  Speaker 3: announcing a three point eight billion dollars infant to spaces
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  Speaker 3: across the north of Australia. It's one of the six
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  Speaker 3: priorities that we announced on Monday that we would pursue
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  Speaker 3: as a government in response to the Defense Strategic Review.
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  Speaker 3: And what that means here in Darwin is increased investment
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  Speaker 3: and infrastructure at HMAS Kernawarra, which is where I'm speaking
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  Speaker 3: from you speaking to you from now. It's at Larakia.
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  Speaker 3: We're seeing significant money being spent on the wharf. Here,
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing money that will be invested in upgrades of
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  Speaker 3: Robertson barracks. In Darwin, you'll see money in respective Wrath based, Darwin,
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  Speaker 3: rap based Kindling Catherine. All of these are really important
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  Speaker 3: assets for our defense force. But they're so important in
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  Speaker 3: terms of how we now think about the job of
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  Speaker 3: the Defense Force going forward, and that's projecting from Australia
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  Speaker 3: and that means projecting from Australia's north.
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  Speaker 1: So Minister three point billion dollars to bases across northern Australia.
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  Speaker 1: How much is he emarked for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, well, there's a considerable component of that in the North.
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  Speaker 3: I mean when we talk a sorry in the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 3: when we talk about our northern bases, you know, we
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  Speaker 3: are thinking about places like Limont which is in excellence,
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  Speaker 3: and Western Australia through too from Coca the Coach and
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  Speaker 3: Killing Island through to towns Hall in Queensland. But the
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  Speaker 3: bases here in the Northern Territory around Darwin, which is
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  Speaker 3: one of really the two big defense towns that we
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  Speaker 3: have in our country. We're all three services operating out
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  Speaker 3: of Darwin. Graph based Darwin at Robertson Barracks, here at
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  Speaker 3: hmas Koonawara, but also Tindall. It is a really critical
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  Speaker 3: part of that equation and making. And the other point
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  Speaker 3: I would make is that across the North the Darwin
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  Speaker 3: is not just a place of investment in infrastructure all
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  Speaker 3: very much is that, but it's and it's a place
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  Speaker 3: of investment in people. Know, what we're going to see
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  Speaker 3: is the defense personnel grow in Darwen over the coming
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  Speaker 3: years as we make sure that we get the human
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  Speaker 3: dimension of this right as well, and so on both sides.
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  Speaker 3: All of that equals more money for the territory's economy.
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  Speaker 1: Do we have any idea just how many people, how
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  Speaker 1: many additional defense force personnel we're going to.
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  Speaker 2: See in the Northern Territory in the coming years.
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  Speaker 3: I've proven speculate on the numbers, but you will see
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  Speaker 3: a growth in Australian personnel. I think the other thing
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  Speaker 3: that you're going to see in Darwin is really a
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  Speaker 3: growth in the tempo of exercises. We've got the marine
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  Speaker 3: rotation that people be familiar with, which has just started
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  Speaker 3: now in the last few weeks and we'll go through
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  Speaker 3: to October. And it's been such a wonderful thing for
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  Speaker 3: this train of defense force in our country, but I
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  Speaker 3: think a wonderful thing for the Darwin community. But what
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  Speaker 3: also other countries in the region look at that and
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  Speaker 3: see it as a great opportunity for them to do
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  Speaker 3: exercises with Australia and with America here in Dawen and
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  Speaker 3: the immediate environment. And so as I go around the region,
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of conversations I'm having with countries who
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  Speaker 3: want to use this opportunity to engage with us in
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  Speaker 3: more exercises. And all of that equals more people coming
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  Speaker 3: here and more money being spent in the local economy.
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  Speaker 3: So all of it, I think is really an optimistic
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  Speaker 3: view about the place of defense in Darwin. But what
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  Speaker 3: that means for the territory's economy going.
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  Speaker 1: Forward, Well, it does sound as though it's going to
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  Speaker 1: have an impact positively when it comes to the economy.
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  Speaker 1: We know that we are strategically important in terms of
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  Speaker 1: our location, but we also know that with that there
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  Speaker 1: is threat. We are here in Darwin obviously commemorate every
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  Speaker 1: year the bombing of Darwin, so it is very real
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  Speaker 1: for us in the territory. What kind of threat is
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory under after, you know, having that Defense
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  Speaker 1: Review and talking about bolstering all the additional resources and
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  Speaker 1: our infrastructure, it's.
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  Speaker 3: A good question. The Defend Strategic Review describes the most
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  Speaker 3: challenging circumstances that our country has faced the end of
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  Speaker 3: the Second World War, and the government agrees with that.
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  Speaker 3: Part of that is about the fact that we are
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  Speaker 3: seeing within our region the biggest conventional build up of
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  Speaker 3: military power that we've seen since the end of the
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  Speaker 3: Second World War, and that obviously has an impact on
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  Speaker 3: our strategic landscape and the threat level. I guess in
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  Speaker 3: terms of our strategic circumstances. Part of it, though, is
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  Speaker 3: a change in US. We are much more connected with
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  Speaker 3: the world today economically through trade than we were thirty
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  Speaker 3: years ago, and there's a physical dimension to that. So
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  Speaker 3: we don't look at this as being something where we're
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  Speaker 3: imagining that there's going to be some invasion of Australia,
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  Speaker 3: because the truth is that any country who wanted to
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  Speaker 3: do is hard can do a whole lot of hards
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  Speaker 3: for us before ever sitting foot upon our shores. And
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  Speaker 3: that's why we really now see that the defense of Australia,
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  Speaker 3: our national security, really lies in the collective security of
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  Speaker 3: the region in which we live and the maintenance of
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  Speaker 3: the global rules based order, and both of those are
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  Speaker 3: elements of tasking that we have done as of Monday
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  Speaker 3: for the first time for our defense force. But in
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  Speaker 3: order to do that, you need to be able to project,
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  Speaker 3: to be able to provide for the collective security of
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  Speaker 3: our region with our partners, we need to have the
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  Speaker 3: capacity to operate beyond our shores, and that's why our
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  Speaker 3: northern bases are so important. So I don't think it
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  Speaker 3: gives right for an increased threat ver say, for Darwin.
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  Speaker 3: It is a very challenging set of circumstances for our country.
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  Speaker 3: But what it's really to say is that Darwin is
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  Speaker 3: so important in terms of how we as country can
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  Speaker 3: respond to those challenging circumstances by enabling us to operate
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  Speaker 3: further from our shores, and that means operating from our now.
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  Speaker 1: Minister, one of the other things that gets raised very
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  Speaker 1: often when we do talk about about our defense and
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  Speaker 1: when we do talk about the Northern territory and our importance.
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  Speaker 2: Is the port.
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  Speaker 1: We know that the port has been leased for ninety
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  Speaker 1: nine years to Chinese owned company land Bridge Group. That
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  Speaker 1: is something that the former federal government was having a
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  Speaker 1: closer look into. I believe that the current government is
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: taking a look into that, or has indeed taken a
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  Speaker 1: look into that. Are we expecting to see any changes
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  Speaker 1: with the port.
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  Speaker 3: Well, Obviously, when we're in opposition, we were critical of
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  Speaker 3: the former government sale of the Port of Darwin to
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  Speaker 3: Chinese owned interests and we regard the Port of Darwen
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  Speaker 3: as very strategically important and we bring that there as
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  Speaker 3: we've come to government last year, and so we initiated
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  Speaker 3: a root you into the sale of the Port of
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: darm which is being undertaken by the Department of Primester
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  Speaker 3: in Cabinet, and that review is both looking at the
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  Speaker 3: sale and what options we have going forward. That review
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  Speaker 3: is underway now, it will report shortly and will take
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  Speaker 3: it from there. But we see the Port of Darwin
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  Speaker 3: as being a very important asset for the nation, which
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  Speaker 3: is why we've undertaken that review and we'll have something
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  Speaker 3: to say about that in the not through distant future.
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  Speaker 1: So over the next few weeks or so, do you
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  Speaker 1: anticipate all.
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  Speaker 3: Probably won't commit to a timeframe like that, but I
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  Speaker 3: mean the review has been operating at a pace since
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  Speaker 3: we initiated on coming into office, and we will it
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  Speaker 3: will not be long before we get answers from that
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  Speaker 3: review and we'll take our decision making process from there.
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  Speaker 1: I mean it does seem like it's going to be
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  Speaker 1: an important decision to make when you talk about supply
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  Speaker 1: chain issues, that's something that has been raised, you know,
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  Speaker 1: throughout the week and supply and you would think that
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  Speaker 1: that port is an incredibly important piece of infrastructure for
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  Speaker 1: Australia hundred percent.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's why we were so anxious about the
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  Speaker 3: sale by the former government and what that has meant
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  Speaker 3: from a strategic point of view for our country, and
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  Speaker 3: that's why we now need to look at I mean,
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  Speaker 3: the sales happened We understand that, so you can't wind
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  Speaker 3: back the clock, but we wanted to look at what
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  Speaker 3: our options are now going forward because we see the
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  Speaker 3: port of Darwin, as thinks, so important in terms of
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  Speaker 3: the future of well the future of the region, but
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  Speaker 3: the future of our country. And so that's why we've
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  Speaker 3: undertaken the view and as to say, as soon as
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  Speaker 3: we get the results of that review, we will be
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  Speaker 3: working out what the next steps are.
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  Speaker 1: As a government defense minister, we are going to have
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  Speaker 1: to get ready to wrap things up.
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  Speaker 2: Can I just ask you one very quick one.
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  Speaker 1: You've spoken a lot about the potential economic benefits to
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory. Are we going to be utilizing local
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  Speaker 1: contractors for these projects and for any sort of work
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  Speaker 1: that is getting underway.
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  Speaker 3: It's a really good question and the answer is yes.
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  Speaker 3: And we've had a round table this morning with local
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  Speaker 3: industry and local contractors where you would imagine that question
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  Speaker 3: was raised. Look, we really see that part of the
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  Speaker 3: social license of defense of or government generally, but defense
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  Speaker 3: specifically operating in well anywhere, but certainly in a place
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  Speaker 3: like dar And is making sure that as that defense
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  Speaker 3: of state grows and is invested in the economic benefit
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  Speaker 3: of that has a local dimension to it and a
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  Speaker 3: significant local dimension to it, and that means local contractors
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  Speaker 3: being involved, and we're very mindful of that in the
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  Speaker 3: way in which that investment will take place. We're working
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  Speaker 3: very closely with local industry in respect of that. But
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  Speaker 3: we think that making sure that there is a local
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  Speaker 3: economic benefit associated with these infrastructure upgrade is fundamentally important
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  Speaker 3: in terms of the social license that Defense seeks to
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  Speaker 3: operate within this community.
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  Speaker 1: Defense Minister Richard Miles, we really appreciate your time this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for speaking with us.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you