Radio interview, RN Breakfast

SUBJECTS: GWEO Plan; Artillery manufacturing capability in Australia. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: The Albanese government will today release its blueprint for establishing missile manufacturing in Australia and fast tracking the acquisition of long-range strike missiles over the next decade. The blueprint, known as the 2024 Australian Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance – GWEO Plan, is worth tens of billions of dollars in investment and is expected to create a thousand jobs. 

Pat Conroy is the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific – quite a few hats. He’s giving a big speech today at the National Press Club in Canberra, but first he joins us. Welcome to the program. 

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY PAT CONROY: Morning, PK. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Why are you announcing this plan now? What’s changed? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we face the greatest strategic uncertainty since World War II, and we’re seeing the biggest conventional arms build-up in our region in that same period. And that was made clear in the National Defence Strategy that Richard Marles released earlier this year. So, the highest duty of any Australian government is to keep Australians safe, and part of that is investing in long-range strike to deter any potential adversary and also investing in self-reliance and sovereignty. 

Anyone who lived through the Covid pandemic or has seen what’s going on in Ukraine knows that we can’t rely on global supply chains for everything; we need to invest in making missiles and explosive ordinance in this country to make the country safer, with the welcome by-product of creating thousands of jobs here. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: I just want some clarity, if I can, Minister. There are reports that your government will snub an LNP-linked defence company, NIOA, to hand this major new contract for artillery shells to a French rival that is at the centre of a corruption probe. Is that what you’re planning to do? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I’m not going to comment about the outcome of that particular tender. I’ll make that announcement in the speech. Two companies are on the record –

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, but can we just get some clarity about whether NIOA has been now – lost the contract? Is that the case? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, both NIOA and Thales are valued members of the defence industry, and I’ll announce the outcome later today. But let me make the point that both have contracts with this – with Defence. Both do good work, and we value both of them strongly. 

The company that you’ve called a so-called French company, Thales, is one of our biggest defence companies. It used to be known as Australian Defence Industry. It employs thousands of Australians around the country doing critical work, as does NIOA. In terms of those allegations you refer to, the allegation dates from 2017. The Department of Defence thoroughly investigated it, and I’m advised they found no evidence to substantiate any of those allegations. So, this accusation has been thrown around, but I want to assure your listeners that both companies are valued members of our defence industry community and they both contribute to keeping Australians safe, which is the highest duty of the Albanese Labor government, and that’s why we’re investing records amounts into equipping the Australian Defence Force. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Can you confirm whether NIOA has contested the tender? 

MINISTER CONROY: I can say that both NIOA and Thales were two of the companies invited to submit tenders, and both tender applications were considered. So, the result will be announced later today, so I’m not go to prejudge that, but I do reject any accusation that we’ve made this decision on anything but value-for-money grounds for the Commonwealth and to ensure that we get this capability delivered as fast as possible. This is about – 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: So NIOA has been a major donor to the LNP. I understand its founder is close to Peter Dutton. Are you saying that is not part of the decision‑making in rejecting its involvement? 

MINISTER CONROY: I can 100 per cent assure you and your listeners that if that’s true – and I have no idea whether that’s true or not – was not a factor in it. The Department of Defence made an evaluation based on cost, risk and ability to deliver artillery ammunition to the Australian Army as quickly as possible. This is about equipping the Australian Defence Force with the best equipment to defend the country and keep Australians safe and to learn from the lessons of Ukraine, which is that we need to be able to manufacture artillery ammunition in this country. And that’s a really important announcement that I’ll be making later today in the speech. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: If you’re just tuning in, Pat Conroy is our guest, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, and talking ahead of his National Press Club address today. 

Going beyond the contracts to the execution, if you like, of how this will look, where will these long-range missiles be based? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, some of them are equipping our Royal Australian Navy ships, so they’ll be on the Hunter class frigates, the Anzac class frigates, the air warfare destroyers, so that’s things like the naval strike missile. The joint strike missile will be going into our F-35 joint strike fighters that are based at RAAF Williamtown and RAAF Base Tindal. And obviously the artillery ammunition and the land-based missiles will be equipping the Australian Army in the units around the country. 

But the important thing is we’re going, for example, from a navy whose longest range weapon is 200 kilometres to one whose longest range is two and a half thousand kilometres. We’re going from an army range of 40 kilometres to an army range of a thousand kilometres, and we’re going from an air force strike range of 100 kilometres to one of more than 900 kilometres. And this is all about deterring conflict, keeping Australians safe and signalling clear deterrence to any potential adversary. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: The 2024 National Defence Strategy affirmed the need to invest in munitions to build stocks and strengthen supply chains and support a domestic manufacturing capability to address the current strategic environment. Analysts believe we are now on the cusp of a new Indo-Pacific missile age. Is this plan enough, though, Minister, to address the regional escalations we’re seeing? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, it’s a huge move forward. When we came to government in 2022 the guided weapons plan under the last government consisted of two things: two media releases. They hadn’t allocated anywhere near the sufficient funds to deliver anything. I think the first missiles were scheduled to be delivered in 2035. We moved at extreme pace. We’ve allocated $16 to $21 billion to this endeavour over the next decade, and we’ll be making missiles in this country next year. 

So that’s a huge step forward. We’ll be establishing two factories to build missiles in this country. We’ll be building artillery ammunition in this country. And we’ll be establishing an Australian company or working with Australian companies to build rocket motors in this country. So, this is a huge move forward and it’s part of the very significant increase in defence funding this government has implemented – a $50 billion increase over a decade, a $50 billion increase that Peter Dutton has promised to cut. 

So, I’ll also be calling for in my speech, national unity on this. Keeping Australians safe should be a unified goal of everyone in politics. But Peter Dutton is intent on cutting $50 billion from our defence budget and imperilling Australians. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Well, he would contest that. But I want to go to the – you’re going to call for unity you just said and bipartisanship on these investments. 

MINISTER CONROY: Yes. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Isn’t the decision around NIOA going to make that more difficult? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, Defence made a decision based on value for money. Your suggesting that we’re making these decisions on any other factor is untrue. And let’s think about that counterfactually. If you accept – if I accept what you said, that that company has made donations to the Liberal Party and is close to Peter Dutton, does it mean for national unity they should be awarded the contract on that basis? Defence makes these decisions based on risk, value for money and ability to deliver these projects. And what companies may or may not do in terms of making donations to the Opposition Leader is a question for them. I’m responsible for my actions. I’m responsible for what the Department of Defence does. And this tender will deliver artillery ammunition to the Australian Army as quickly as possible with the lowest risk and the highest value for money, and I’m not going to prejudge or pre‑announce that decision. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: Thank you so much for joining us, Minister. 

MINISTER CONROY: Thanks, PK. Have a great day. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS: You too. Pat Conroy is the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific and will address the National Press Club today, where there will be, you know, more detail with this pretty significant plan. 

ENDS

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