Indo-Pacific Conference, WA

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LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Good morning everyone and welcome to the great state of Western Australia. It was a real privilege for me this morning to have addressed this sell out conference on the Indo-Pacific region, and particularly today focusing on the defence considerations right across the Indian Ocean rim. As a Senator for Western Australia and also as a Minister now for Defence, it is very important that as a three ocean nation we focus more about attentions right across the Indian Ocean rim, in terms of our alliances and the activities we do with our partners. So it was a great opportunity today to put that perspective to the 500 delegates here. Thank you.

JOURNALIST:           
Will WA be getting this contract that the State Government's pushing so hard for?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
The full-cycle docking?

JOURNALIST:                       
Correct. Yes.

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
As I've said many times, the Federal Government has not yet made a decision, a final decision on the full-cycle docking location. But I can tell you a couple of things. First of all, I congratulate the West Australian Government for this plan, which I received on Friday. The Government and I will have a look at this very closely. But as part of our $90 billion naval shipbuilding plans, we have two great locations in Western Australia and in South Australia that will both grow. So whatever decision the Government does take on this, both states will grow in terms of industrial opportunities and also in terms of jobs. No decision made, but I do congratulate the West Australian Government on a very comprehensive program.

JOURNALIST:
Are you fighting the fight for WA?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Well, I think any of you who've known me over the last five years know how passionate I have been about our defence industry and the opportunities and the capability they have, and also now in terms of our mining sector and the strategic considerations that we have now with critical minerals and also rare earth. So, I have been a very passionate advocate for our State, but now as the Minister for Defence, I've also got to make sure that any decision we take is in our nation's interest. And fortunately, in this case, what is good for our nation in naval shipbuilding is not only good for South Australia, it is also great for Western Australia because we have two very capable naval shipbuilding centres in this country.

JOURNALIST:
Should South Australia be concerned that you've already made your mind up? And if you do decide to move it to Western Australia, would they be compensated?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Well, I think you must have misheard me because I very clearly said the Government hasn't made any decision and we won't. In relation to that, over the last few months I have been working very closely with both Minister Papalia here in Western Australia and also the Premier in South Australia. I welcomed both - a couple of weeks ago - to Canberra, where both got a very comprehensive briefing about the process of how we will decide the full-cycle docking location and timeline. I'm working very closely with both. But as I said, this is not a binary choice between one state and the other. Both states, under our naval shipbuilding plan, will benefit and will grow significantly and both locations will have thousands of multigenerational jobs to sustain this industry. So, it is actually a win-win situation.

JOURNALIST:
The Government has been accused of pandering to Christopher Pyne and giving a lot of the contracts for his sake. Now that he's gone, is WA going to get more of another chance, then?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
When you have a look at the billions of dollars that this Government has invested in defence in Western Australia and will continue to do so, I think it is safe to say that both state and other states who also have significant technological capabilities and manufacturing capability. So, I think the Premier of South Australia recently described it best. He called this a phony war between West Australia and South Australia, because both states benefit. So for me as the Defence Minister, it is important that we deliver this capability, because it is capability that we need. And that's what I talked about today in the conference - we are living in increasingly uncertain geostrategic environments, not just in the Pacific Ocean but also through our west in the Indian Ocean rim. So this is critically important capability that for the first time-don't forget we are the first government ever to have the confidence in the Australian workforce and in Australian industry that we can deliver this entire new fleet for the Navy.

JOURNALIST:
[Indistinct] reports about the US request in the GulfIs there a timeline on that? And what are we looking for? Are we turning to other countries before making a decision?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
As I've said publicly several times over the last week, we have received a request from the United States and also from the United Kingdom. I have been in very close contact with both of my counterparts in relation to this. As we have said publicly, and the Prime Minister has reaffirmed, we haven't yet made a decision. But what we do know is that we do have a national interest because between 15 and 20 per cent of our oil is transits through the Strait of Hormuz. We are deeply concerned by Iran's behaviour and by the attacks on civilian ships. There are a number of things that we have to carefully think through before we make a final commitment or before we make a commitment at all in fact.

I did meet with Richard Marles on Friday here in Perth. We had a very productive and wide ranging discussion. We did both expressed concern, from both sides of politics, at Iran's behaviour but we also did discuss- and I did brief Richard Marles on our concerns for the region, what factors we would take into consideration and also the reasons for us seeking further information before we decide on a commitment.

And I just want to thank Richard Marles for that conversation. I said it was wide ranging, it was very collegiate, and I look forward to working with him on this and many other issues as we progress.

JOURNALIST:
Minister, do you reckon Australians are open to changing on issues of the medical company Healius areas?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Yes. I'm aware of this issue, and there's a couple of points I'd make on this. The first is that the Foreign Investment Review Board are currently considering this request, and they're- probably their primary and most important consideration they always take, are national security considerations into account when considering any decision. But as Minister for Defence, I also want to reassure all of our men and women in uniform that we take the safety and security of their health records very seriously. We have a lot of measures in place to protect them. And also if there was to be a request to anybody to access those records, it would have to be in writing to the government and for the government to agree. But we are aware of the issue, and the security of their health records is paramount.

JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]… provide services to the ADF if the ownership moves into the hands of foreign banks?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Well as I said, it is currently under consideration by FIRB, and they will take into consideration the national security implications of any such proposals.

JOURNALIST:           
Minister on Special Forces, the Government's committing more money under Project Greyfin over the next few decades; does that mean that the Government anticipates an increase in deployments, and if so, where?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Well, our Special Forces command and the eight units that reside within Special Forces command do an astonishing job on behalf of all Australians. They are tasked to do some of the most challenging and wide ranging operations on our behalf. It is incumbent on us as a government to make sure that we provide them with the most technologically advanced equipment that we can.

I was thrilled with the announcement, and to be able to commit in the short term to get another $300 million towards that. But it's also significant because we're changing the way that we're acquiring some equipment, to make sure our Special Forces get the equipment that they need when they need it. And it's also a great opportunity for Australian industry to come in and showcase the capabilities that they have and that they could offer our Special Forces. We ask a lot of our men and women in the Special Forces. We asked a lot of their families who in effect sit alongside them, and it's incumbent on us to make sure that whatever contingency we ask them to train to prepare for and potentially execute on our behalf, we've got to make sure that they have got the best possible equipment.

JOURNALIST:
Why did you mention there- why is it important that Northern Minerals have signed up (Inaudible) taken agreement on that non-Chinese company, and second to that, how important is it for Australia and its strategic partners that the Linus rare earths license is renewed by Malaysia?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
On the issue, more broadly, this is something that the Senator for Western Australia has been working very closely on, and for those of you who follow that issue will know that I've been deeply engaged on this issue, because here in Western Australia and for generally across Australia we have at least 40 per cent of the known reserves of tech metal, whether it's lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, but also most of the rare earth that our current technology in our lifestyle today relies on. So at the moment there is - for most of those -there is now a sole source, and therefore when we have a look at that sole source, we've been discussing- we discussed it at some length at AUSMIN and also with my UK counterparts recently. So what we want to do is make sure that we have a guaranteed supply, so it's not just the IBMs and the Apple's and your model companies to produce leading edge technologies who need access to this, but it's also our Defence firm, and a lot of our Defence equipment and capability actually uses rare earths in its production. The key issue for us and why we've now elevated this and Americans and others have, is that we ensure continuity and guarantee of supply of these rare earths and tech metals, as they're now called, is an issue of national importance.

JOURNALIST:
Can I ask a question about the Indian Ocean focus on your keynote address - what might that look like, greater defence cooperation?

LINDA REYNOLDS:  
Well, as I noted in my speech, the Indian Ocean is becoming increasingly contested right across the rim, so there are now more basing located across the ocean, but for us particularly it's not about- a matter about projecting more military force into the region per se, it is actually about working with partners across the region in defence cooperation arrangements. So with India, we've gone in three years from eight joint activities, now to nearly 40, which we're on track to meet again this year. So it's better cooperation exercising so that we are more interoperable, and like we are with the United States, we work very closely together because we exercise and we know how to work together.

And it's also with Indonesia; our Chief of Defence Force has just come back from a very warm meeting with his Indonesian counterparts, and we're now looking- actively looking for ways that we can work more cooperatively in terms of freedom of navigation, sea lanes activities, and just engaging more. It's about increasing cooperation, increasing partnerships, to ensure a rules based order exists for everybody in the Indian Ocean rim.

[ENDS]