Radio Interview, ABC AM

SUBJECT/S: Support for Ukraine; Cost of living.

NICK GRIMM, HOST: Australia will gift almost 50 ageing battle tanks to help Ukraine's fight against the Russian invaders. They're not exactly in showroom condition, of course. An undisclosed number of the M1A1 Abrams tanks will first need to be remediated, to be made combat ready, or just delivered as is, to be used as spare parts. The $245 million contribution though, takes Australia's total commitment to Ukraine to around $1.5 billion since the war began. Richard Marles is the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence. 

Richard Marles, I'll ask you about the tanks in a moment, but can I get your comment first on developments from Ukraine? What do you make of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's plan for success in the war?

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think obviously what Ukraine faces is deeply challenging but I think that the Ukrainians have been inspirational, really, in the way in which they have contested the Russian aggression. What we need to be doing is everything we can in terms of friends and supporters of Ukraine to ensure that they are able to pursue this. It is a difficult fight in the context of who they are fighting against, but I actually think that the way in which they are managing the war has been inspirational and continues to be so.

GRIMM: Ok, just looking at Australia's latest contribution, we're sending 49 tanks. The war has waged for two and a half years now and Ukraine has been pleading for military assistance throughout that time. Can you just tell me, why is it only now that we're passing on these tanks that are no longer needed?

MARLES: Well, we've been providing support from the outset. This will take our military support for Ukraine up to $1.3 billion. I mean, we've been consistent in saying that we will be with Ukraine for as long as it takes. This latest contribution will be much needed by Ukraine. They've talked to us about the particular needs that they've had. Integrated air and missile defence, for example, is one of those. We've supplied that. But greater combat power in terms of land transport is clearly an issue and these are frontline assets, frontline, powerful tanks, which will make a really big difference.

GRIMM: And Ukraine has actually been seeking these tanks. Should that head off any repeated past criticism from some observers that Australia has had a tendency to gift its ally its clapped out, obsolete ordnance and other equipment needing to be cast off.

MARLES: There will always be critics, and we understand that. And in a sense, criticism goes hand in hand with every announcement that we make. I mean, we understand that’s what people will do, but what we will do is make sure that we are continuing to provide assistance to Ukraine. These are tanks which will make a really big difference and, let me say, this will not be the last announcement that we make, there will be more announcements in the future. We don't know how long this conflict will go, and we will stay, as I say, with Ukraine throughout the course. And when we make announcements in the future, there will be the same sorts of questions and we understand that. But I think when you look back at the record of what we have done, for a country just on the other side of the world, which is not a member of NATO, this is a very significant contribution. And certainly that is how it is regarded by Ukraine, by our partners such as the United States and the United Kingdom. They are deeply grateful for the support that we are providing and they reiterate that the significance of this kind of support coming from a country on the other side of the world sends such a strong message to the global community about the need to be there in support of Ukraine. And so we're very– we'll continue to provide support where we can. And this is a very significant addition.

GRIMM: Speaking of dealing with criticism, though, Richard Marles, can I ask you about the controversy that's been generated by the Prime Minister's purchase of a new home? There have been suggestions that this could be Anthony Albanese’s Hawaii moment, in a reference to his predecessor, Scott Morrison, taking a holiday in the middle of a bushfire crisis. There's a housing and cost of living crisis right now. How concerned should you be that this could become one of those emblematic moments that fairly or unfairly can dog a Prime Minister facing re‑election?

MARLES: Look, I mean, I think all of those ridiculous assertions, really. I mean, at the end of the day, the Prime Minister and his partner are entitled to their own private life and their own private affairs, and this is clearly something which exists in that domain and has no bearing at all on what the Prime Minister does when he comes to work each and every day to support Australians. And his Government, from the moment that we have been elected, has been focused on the global inflationary environment, about which we are not immune, doing everything we can to fight a war on inflation, which is the most important contribution we can do to the cost of living pressures that Australians feel. That's why we've delivered two surpluses in the two years in which we've governed, something that the Coalition were unable to do throughout their time in office, despite promising they'd do it each and every year. That's why when we have spent money, principally that money has been spent on easing the pressure of cost of living, be that increased rental assistance, or be that the tax cuts for income earners, more affordable childcare, cheaper medicines. I mean, this is what the Prime Minister and all of us are focused on each and every day when we go to work. That continues to be the case. The Prime Minister is clearly entitled to have a set of private affairs outside his work, and one really doesn't impact the other. 

GRIMM: Yeah, but Anthony Albanese’s childhood growing up in a housing commission flat has also been emblematic for Labor. Does this issue boil down to simply the fact that Australians living in government housing right now might feel they have no hope of ever affording their own home, let alone an ocean front one? They might feel Australia might have been a land of opportunity for the Prime Minister's generation, but not their own.

MARLES: Well, as I say each and every day, what the Prime Minister and all of us are doing when we come to work is to focus on the pressure of cost of living, and that includes pressures around housing and doing what we can in respect of that. And in truth, what we face consistently from our political opponents is opposition to those measures. I mean, we would like to have help to buy legislation in place which would make it easier for those seeking to enter the housing market to buy properties. But in fact, that legislation was opposed by the Coalition and the Greens. And so, as we have gone about seeking to make housing more affordable, we do so in the face of significant opposition. But we will continue to look at ways in which we can make housing more affordable and it is clearly a central focus in respect of all the work that we're doing around cost of living.

GRIMM: Ok, Richard Marles, thanks for joining us here on AM.

MARLES: It's a pleasure.

ENDS