Radio Interview, ABC Radio Perth Mornings

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

HOST, NADIA MITSOPOULOS: But I want to talk to Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister first, because the mining industry is the powerhouse, as you well know, of WA's economy. What else do we have apart from mining, we’ve been talking about that this morning. A prediction today that Defence could become our second biggest industry after mining and AUKUS is the key. Richard Marles is the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence and he is in Perth this morning. Minister, good morning.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Good morning, Nadia. How are you?

MITSOPOULOS: Good, thank you. So, can defence really become WA's second biggest industry?

MARLES: Well, I think Defence really represents the biggest opportunity for the diversification of the Western Australian economy in decades, really. And I think it can be right up there with agriculture and with resources. Essentially two critical decisions we've made since coming to power. One was that our future nuclear powered submarine capability would operate principally from Western Australia; from HMAS Sterling, and that will see the establishment of the submarine rotational force-west, which will largely be operated by the United States here in Perth in three years time. What we announced today with the Premier is that flowing from that, the maintenance and sustainment of our future nuclear powered submarine capability will be done here in Perth at the Henderson Defence Precinct, this is a very big decision. But it's a clear decision because that activity needs to take place close to where the submarines are operating. Now that right there we'll see the better part of 3000 people working in an enduring way on the maintenance and sustainment of our future submarines. The second big decision which we made at the beginning of this year was to establish continuous naval shipbuilding in Perth. Following that up, we have announced that Austal is our strategic plan partner here. We're committed to building army watercraft, both medium and heavy, at Henderson. The general purpose frigate will be built in Henderson. In the future, LMS fees will be built in Henderson. And again, this is a major shipbuilding activity which again will happen at the Henderson defence precinct. And all of that will also see the sustainment of our surface fleet. We want to make sure we've got the infrastructure in Western Australia to be able to sustain our largest ship. Now all of that combined is going to support 10,000 jobs. It'll take a few years for that to occur, but that is a huge opportunity for Western Australia. It's obviously a massive capability for the country and whatever else, it is the biggest diversification in the western Australian economy in decades.

MITSOPOULOS: How do you get to 10,000, obviously, direct and indirect jobs?

MARLES: Well, it is both direct jobs, direct enduring jobs in relation to the sustainment of submarines, the building of our future ships and the sustainment of our future ships. There's also a lot of construction jobs in the development of the infrastructure associated with this. So, when we announced that we would have the submarine rotational force west in Perth at that time, we announced $8 billion worth of investment in infrastructure at HMAS Stirling over the course of the next decade. I mean, that is a huge infrastructure spend, and we will see a very significant infrastructure spend at the Henderson Defence Precinct as well. I mean, to have the infrastructure in place to be able to sustain and maintain submarines and ships going forward will include, for example, the building of drydocks. We've announced $127 million today to begin that work, do the design for that precinct, and that will tell us the precise cost of this going forward. But all of that is going to involve large numbers of people in the building of that.

MITSOPOULOS: Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, is my guest this morning at five to ten. The Coalition says this is all taking too long. They say you've allocated just $127 million to the project over three years. And they say that's barely enough to get works underway and delivery of initiatives not set to commence for another nine months. Why so long?

MARLES: Well, I mean, firstly, there's a certain irony in hearing that kind of criticism from the Coalition, because when they were in Government, they committed precisely nothing to the development of ship maintenance or shipbuilding in Western Australia. We have timeframes which are driven by the need to acquire a nuclear powered submarine capability. The optimal pathway that we described in March of last year, which really sees the evolution of an operational capacity out of HMAS Stirling. All of what we are doing is consistent with the timeframes associated there. So, making sure that the submarine rotational force is up and running in three years time. Indeed, already seeing an increased number of visitations of nuclear powered submarines to Australia, and particularly Western Australia. And that is really the starting point of evolving that operational capability. We need to be able, as part of this, to have a contingency maintenance capability developed in Western Australia. We will be meeting that timeframe, and in terms of the construction of ships, we will be meeting all the timelines in terms of getting our general purpose frigates into operation as quickly as possible.

MITSOPOULOS: Minister, final question. A bit of debate about the Prime Minister who's bought a new house for $4.3 million. Some Labor colleagues are a little baffled by this, saying it's a bit tone deaf during a housing crisis. Are you baffled by this purchase?

MARLES: No. Look, the Prime Minister is entitled to have a private life and have private affairs, and obviously this is a personal decision that he's made with his partner. I think what Australians want to know is that when the Prime Minister comes to work each and every day, what is his focus? And I can tell you, standing right beside him, that his focus is on the cost of living and pressures that are felt by Australians around the country. It is on waging a war on inflation, something which is being experienced around the world. Why? We've delivered two surplus budgets in the two years in which we've been in Government, something that the coalition never did, despite promising they do it each and every year. And that's the most important contribution that we can make to putting downward pressure on inflation. That war on inflation is starting to succeed. And where we are spending money, it is in relation to cost of living tax cuts for income earners, energy rebates, more affordable childcare, cheaper medicines. This is what the Prime Minister is focused on and that's what Australians would expect.

MARLES: I need to leave it there. Deputy Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time this morning. That was Richard Marles, the deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister. 

ENDS