Radio Interview, 6PR Mornings

SUBJECTS: Defence Precinct at Henderson; Record Investment in Western Australia; Prime Minister’s property; Cost of living

HOST, GARY ADSHEAD: Alrighty. I think he's ready to go- the Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister Richard Marles. He's in Western Australia, of course, because of this huge announcement around AUKUS, which we've all been kind of- I think it's the piece of the puzzle we've been waiting for in terms of Henderson, HMAS Stirling, what would be required down there in terms of this huge AUKUS project? Let's go to him now. Thanks very much for your time, Mr Marles.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER RICHARD MARLES: Great to be with you, Gary.

ADSHEAD: Ok. Can you spell it out? Because I know that, you know, there was a bit of a. There was a time where I remember when I went down there when, you know, ScoMo was announcing $4.3 billion dry dock, all the rest of it, and then it kind of stalled. So, where are we at now?

MARLES: Well, I think actually, the way you described it then is exactly right. It's the piece in the puzzle which has been missing and which has actually been quite tricky to land. But we have landed it. And today we announced with the Western Australian government the establishment of the Henderson Defence Precinct- which for those who know Henderson, will be at the southern end of that strip. But what we will- really, there have been two big decisions that we've made since coming to government. The first in relation to defence industry in WA. The first was that with our future nuclear powered submarines, that they would be principally based in WA at HMAS Stirling. And with that we would see the Submarine Rotational Force West, which will be principally a U.S. contingent coming here from 2027. All of that really implies the need to develop a maintenance and sustainment capability for our future submarines. Today, we've announced that that will happen in Perth at Henderson. It's a very big decision, but it's also a very clear decision. We really needed to do this near where the submarines operate. But to give you a sense of scale, right there in the future, we'll see 3,000 people working on our nuclear-powered submarines in terms of maintaining and sustaining them. The second big decision we made earlier this year was a commitment to continuous naval shipbuilding in Perth. So, we're going to build our future general purpose frigates here. We're going to build our LOSVs here. We've already committed to building the army watercraft, both medium and heavy, here. And that will also happen at the Henderson Defence Precinct. Now, all of that together is going to support about 10,000 jobs. And that represents both the biggest defence industry offering in Western Australia's history. But also, I think it represents really the biggest diversification in Western Australia's economy in decades.

ADSHEAD: Yeah, you talked about all those people, you know, and we all talk about skill shortages, etcetera. How do you find them? I mean, where do they come from? Surely we have to open up this to a lot of people from overseas to come in and take these jobs.

MARLES: Well, look, again, that's a very good question, and you know that, and people are rightly asking that. There's a few observations to make. Firstly, I think what we've kind of witnessed over the last decade is this kind of perceived competition between South Australia and WA in relation to shipbuilding. But the bottom line here is, if we're going to do this, it's such a huge endeavour that we're trying to do. We need to fully engage the industrial base, but the workforces of both WA and South Australia. So, really, what you see in today's decision is a clear commitment to a full throttle of jobs offering in WA. I think migration clearly plays a role and there are various migration policies around in relation to this. It is worth, though, understanding that when we're talking about this kind of work, it will involve security clearances which will essentially require Australian citizens. It's possible then citizens of America, Britain and some countries like that might be able to participate, but this will be a place which will require Australian citizens, given the security nature of what's going on. But ultimately, the answer to this question lies in training. We need to be making sure that we are investing heavily in training. Now, we're doing this at a university level, but we're working very closely with South Metro TAFE to see the training of the required number of people that will be necessary to undertake this. And obviously that's going to evolve over the years. But across our government, there has been an unprecedented level of commitment to vocational training, to trades training, and that's really at the heart of solving this, the human problem, if I could put it that way, the human dimension of this.

ADSHEAD: So, this part of the decision making that's been made, where do you see now the size of the overseas defence contingent, though? What will it be when we talk about areas down towards Henderson and Rockingham and Co? Because, you know, again, I'm going to just say it, there'll be people saying, where the hell are they all going to live?

MARLES: Yeah, and again, look at a fair question. I mean, it is a significant number of people in- north of a thousand in terms of when we're looking at both personnel and potentially families, Defence Housing Australia, has already gone to market around looking at the construction of new houses for those people. Defence Housing has also gone to the market for volume leasing for, again, those people. But there is certainly going to need to be a housing effort here to make sure that we've got that in place. There's also other pressures, you know, on roads and the like, and we're very much aware of that. Within the last month, we've had, for the first time, three levels of government; the City of Rockingham, the WA government and the Commonwealth government, all sitting down looking at the kinds of pressures that are going to be put in place, I guess, with the establishment of the Submarine Rotational Force West. And we're doing a roundtable on this actually later today. So, those kinds of questions are very much front and centre. But they are challenges- we're not shying away from that, but they're challenges that we're confident we can meet. And ultimately they're good challenges to have, because what the outcome of all of this will see is a huge jobs opportunity and a huge diversification of the economy in WA.

ADSHEAD: It's big picture stuff. So, I hope you don't mind me bringing it down to something that's a little bit closer to home locally at the moment, by way of your government. Has the Prime Minister's $4.3 million beachside mansion hindered the optics of your government right now, given that we're all in a housing crisis and cost of living crisis?

MARLES: Oh, no. Look, the Prime Minister is entitled to a personal life and to make his personal decisions. And obviously this is a personal matter with him and his partner, Jodie. I think what Australians want to know is that when the Prime Minister comes to work each and every day, he's focused on the cost of living challenges that are facing Australians. And I can tell you, working side by side with him that he is. I mean, we're seeing an inflationary challenge around the world and we're not immune from that. The most significant thing we can do here is to fight a war on inflation. And that's why we've been in power for two years. We've delivered two surpluses. That's something that the former government never did, despite promising to do it each and every year. That is the most important thing we can do to put downward pressure on inflation. And that is starting to work. And we've seen that in terms of the commentary of economists and the like. And where we are spending money, we're focused on cost of living measures- tax cuts for income earners, looking at more affordable childcare, cheaper medicines, energy rebates. I mean, these are the measures that we are principally spending on, say, along with making sure we're looking after our national security and a record investment in Defence. But fundamentally, we are absolutely focused on the cost of living challenge that Australians are feeling. And we get this job's a long way from being done. People are still doing it tough, and we'll continue to go in there each and every day fighting on this. But that is what the Prime Minister is focused on when he goes to work. I can absolutely attest to that. I think that's what Australians want to know and that's what matters.

ADSHEAD: Richard Marles, thanks very much for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

MARLES: Pleasure, Gary.