Television Interview, ABC News Breakfast

SUBJECTS: Exercise Pitch Black; US Presidential Election; AUKUS; Ministry; Cost of Living; Birth Rate; Republic.

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: Let's go up to Darwin now, where a massive international air combat training exercise, Exercise Pitch Black, is taking place. About 4000 defence personnel from 20 nations are taking part and the Assistant Defence Minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, joins us from Darwin now. Good morning, Matt.

MATT THISTLETHWAITE,ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: Good morning, James. Thanks for having me on.

GLENDAY: There's a big US contingent up there. Am I right to presume that many of your conversations, and at least the lunchroom chat, will be about the pretty extraordinary events taking place in America at the moment?

ASSISTANT MINISTER: As you mentioned, there's 20 nations participating in Exercise Pitch Black this year. It's the largest number of nations ever, and six new nations, four and a half thousand Defence Force personnel. Obviously, there is quite a bit of chatter around what's going on in US politics at the moment, but I can tell you that the US personnel are very, very professional. They're here to do a job. They're here for a mission. And last night I got to witness that mission taking place with a number of nations’ fighter jets taking off from the RAAF Base at Darwin and being involved in a combat exercise from Katherine through to Darwin in airspace. And to see that awesome display of the power of different defence forces working together on that mission was quite remarkable.

GLENDAY: You were recently in the United States for talks, I think just a couple of weeks ago. I can probably guess what you're going to say. But with all the political uncertainty taking place there at the moment, should we be at all worried about the US Australia relationship or indeed something like AUKUS?

ASSISTANT MINISTER: No, we shouldn't. The ANZUS alliance has been the foundation of Australia's security and peace since World War Two and it's survived the comings and goings of different administrations and governments here and in Australia, so that's not going to change. And I had some meetings over the course of the last week with congressional representatives from both the Democrats and the Republicans, and I can tell you that they're all committed to maintaining AUKUS. And we're starting to see the passage through their Congress of the important legislation that will provide that intellectual property and technology transfer to Australian firms so we can start to get on with the job of planning and delivering nuclear propelled submarines here in Australia.

GLENDAY: On another topic, Matt. There are reports today that the Prime Minister is mulling a ministerial reshuffle. Are you hopeful at all of a promotion? And do you know if any of your senior colleagues have their eye on a plum diplomatic posting? It wasn't that long ago we were hearing a bit about Paris. 

ASSISTANT MINISTER: No, I don't. Look, I think the great thing about our Government has been our stability. The fact that we ended the chaos and division that we saw under the previous government and that we've delivered some stability and that's what the Australian people have been asking for. And that's helped us ensure that we can deliver the legislative program that we promised in the lead up to the last election. So, establishing a National Anti-Corruption Commission, supporting Australian families and small businesses with our cost of living measures, delivering the tax cuts, the energy rebates, the cheaper medicines, the cheaper childcare, all these policies that we promised, we've been able to deliver because we've been a good and stable government.

GLENDAY: Apologies we are really going around the grounds this morning just on cost of living. We've been hearing that Australians are having fewer babies. Do you know why that is? And does that worry you at all? 

ASSISTANT MINISTER: Well, I saw that story and I can vouch for that because I've got four kids myself. My wife and I are raising four daughters. So, it is costly to raise children when they're going to school, when they've got extracurricular activities like their sports and things like that. But that's why the Government is focused on delivering that cost of living relief. And it's been really targeted, James, providing that support for families around the necessity. So, the tax cuts are obviously about ensuring that people have growth in their real incomes. The energy rebates are dealing with the cost of energy spikes that we've seen as a result of the war in Ukraine and energy market constraints and cheaper medicines, the necessities of life. And a lot of that was based on the advice of Treasury to ensure that we weren't pouring fuel on the fire of inflation, so it's providing that support to help with the cost of living, but out fuel, without fuelling inflation. And that's really important. 

GLENDAY: And that's, of course, gonna be a very contested issue as we get closer to an election. Finally, Matt, I just wanted to get you to put on your other Assistant Minister hat, the King is coming to Australia soon and you are the first ever Assistant Minister for the Republic. Is anything at all happening in that portfolio at the moment?

ASSISTANT MINISTER: Look our focus at the moment is on cost of living, obviously, but we have a longer term vision for Australia and that is one of an independent nation that represents our democracy, that represents our independence and maturity as a nation by having one of our own as our head of state. It's in the party platform. It's been there for many, many years, so we've taken it to several elections. But at the moment, the priority is the cost of living. The King is coming. He's coming to my electorate, and he'll be welcomed as our head of state. But hopefully one day in the future we can have a debate with the Australian people about having one of our own as our head of state, because I certainly know that there are plenty of Australians that could do that job. 

GLENDAY: Just how far in the future are we talking, though? Is this something you think a future Albanese Government could do, or is this many, many terms out into the future now? 

ASSISTANT MINISTER: We're not putting a timeline on it, James. The priority at the moment is the cost of living. We're making sure that we're in touch with what Australians are telling us are their priorities. And very much at the moment, it is helping them get through this difficult period with cost of living pressure and you're seeing that on all of the policies that we're going through the Parliament with. So, that's our priority at the moment. But at some stage in the future, we would like to have a discussion with the Australian people about this important issue. 

GLENDAY: All right, Matt Thistlethwaite. Thank you. Enjoy Darwin, and good luck if you end up in one of those aircraft over northern Australia in the next few days. 

ASSISTANT MINISTER: I wish. Thanks, mate.