Press Conference, Newcastle

SUBJECTS:  Kongsberg missile factory, Peter Dutton and federal election; ASA and AUKUS

MERYL SWANSON: Today is a landmark day for The Hunter and for Australia. I want to welcome the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability, Pat Conroy, John Fry from Kongsberg Australia and Oyvid Kolset from Kongsberg Norway. 

Today we are making Australia more secure, and we are securing jobs for The Hunter region. I couldn't be prouder to be the Federal Member for Paterson, and I look forward to continuing to see the growth and the energy that we are bringing to Newcastle Airport and Astra Aerolab, and I also just want to take a moment to thank Peter Cock for his work, really growing our airport, it's an airport our region deserves. 

We will be able to fly to many places because of his work, and I just want to acknowledge that publicly today. Thank you, Peter. And here's to such a bright future for our region and the securing of our nation and all of the endeavours we have for it.

Minister Pat Conroy. Thanks, Minister. 

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY, PAT CONROY: Thank you, Meryl, and it's a pleasure to join Meryl Swanson, the fabulous and fierce Member For Paterson, there's no stronger advocate for the defence of this nation in our nation's Parliament than Meryl, not just on Defence Industry but support for veterans and serving personnel as well. 

Ladies and gentlemen, keeping Australians safe is the highest duty of any federal government, and that's why the Albanese Labor Government is making record investments into our Australian Defence Force to make sure that the men and women of the ADF have the equipment they need to defend Australia and deter any potential aggressor. 

We live in a missile age. You just have to look at what's happening in Ukraine right now with Vladimir Putin's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, to understand the power and importance of missiles to deter aggression and to strike back, and for too long we've been dependent upon foreign supply lines. 

I think anyone's whose lived through the COVID pandemic knows that we need to make more things in this country to have sovereignty and independence, and that's why I was so delighted to be here today for the sod turning for the Kongsberg missile factory. 

This is only the second factory in the world and the first factory outside of Norway to make the incredibly advanced Joint Strike Missile and Naval Strike Missile that we're equip our navy and air force with. 

These missiles will place question marks in any potential adversary's mind. These missiles will deter aggression, make our region safer and keep Australians safe. 

Importantly, this $850 million investment will drive 500 construction jobs and around 100 prime tech high‑skilled jobs just here in the Aerolab alone, building these very advanced missiles. 

We've allocated $137 million to grow our supply chain to that Aussie companies will be producing the parts that go into these missiles, and we've already seen Australian companies doing great work in this area. 

Nupress Group in Cardiff, already make parts for the launcher for the Naval Strike Missile, and I'm so excited by the many opportunities for other Australian companies to win work and add to the over 100 jobs that will be long‑term sustainably produced out of this announcement. 

Over $100 million will go into the local Hunter economy as a result of this announcement. 

So this announcement and this delivery, which is on an accelerated timeframe for factory complete in 2026, producing missiles in 2027, are faster than we could have got these missiles from the global production line. This is all about keeping Australians safe, giving the ADF the equipment they need to keep Australians safe and driving a Defence future made in this country with high‑tech, high‑skilled jobs for Australians, particularly those in The Hunter. 

I'd be delighted to answer questions on today's announcement. 

JOURNALIST: Can you just repeat again to us the types of missiles that will be produced here? I know it was mentioned earlier, but if you could repeat that. 

MINISTER CONROY: So we'll be producing two missiles in this factory; the Naval Strike Missile, which is an anti‑ship cruise missile that equips our frigates and destroyers. That's designed to deter other ships, and ultimately to sink other ships that might be threatening Australia. 

We had the first test firing on an Australian vessel of a Naval Strike Missile very recently, and that was very successful, and we'll also be producing Joint Strike Missiles which are anti‑ship missiles that go into a weapons bay of the Joint Strike Fighter. 

These are the only anti‑ship missiles that fit into the weapons bay, and that's obviously very important to maintain the stealth characteristics of the stealth fighter, and that will be equipping our air force. 

As I said, it's only the second factory in the world that will produce these missiles, and we're actually building excess capacity to either ramp up production for our needs or potentially export around the world to like‑minded countries and trusted allies. 

JOURNALIST: On NSM and export, can you give us an update on the talks with Japan about possibly buying missiles from this site in the future, and can you also explain why the Government is considering the StrikeMaster, which uses NSMs as opposed to just buying more HIMARS, which are popular. 

MINISTER CONROY: Thanks Andrew. Look, we're in discussions with a number of like‑minded countries about using this facility as a potential export base. The Naval Strike Missile is incredibly popular around the world, and I've got to be careful, I don't want to do an ad for Kongsberg, [indistinct]. But it is turning out to be the chosen capability to replace the harpoon anti‑ship missile, that's equipped western navies since the late 1970s, so there's lots of countries that are acquiring it, the US Marine Corps is acquiring a lot of these to put on launchers, to be put on islands as a way of deterring aggression. 

So we're confident there are export opportunities out of the Naval Strike Missile announcement and potentially the Joint Strike Missile announcement. 

I also announced today a competition for the second regiment of long range fires. As part of the National Defence Strategy, we're transferring the Australian Army, you'll see the most radical transformation of the Australian Army since World War II, one focussed on littoral manoeuvre for being able to move around the island chain around Australia, and one equipped with long range strike. We're going from an Army with the longest range weapon of 40 kilometres to one with a range in excess of 500 up to 1,000 kilometres. 

Part of that is equipping a second long range fires regiment to do maritime strike, so having Australian Army missile launchers able to sink ships as they approach Australia or before deployed, and I announced today we'll be running a competition between two missile launcher options; one is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, the HIMARS launcher that's being used in Ukraine right now, married with the precision strike missile as equipping the first regiment of long range fires, and the other option is the StrikeMaster, which is a Bushmaster produced at the Bendigo facility, one of the best protected mobility vehicles in the world that has saved countless lives in the Middle East, and the Naval Strike Missiles that will be produced here. 

We're running a competition to drive value for money for the Australian taxpayer, and also to explore the trade‑offs there. Both capabilities are incredibly advanced, both capabilities are being introduced into service by the United States, for example, the US Army are in co‑development with us [indistinct] the US Marine Corps are using Naval Strike Missiles. 

So we're really excited, and I'm really excited to be standing here announcing that, and over the next year we'll look at those options and choose the one that gives the best capability for the ADF, that delivers the best value for money for Australian taxpayers and contributes to our sovereignty and independence. 

JOURNALIST: So a decision before the end of next year, and if so, when would you start acquiring either of those capabilities for the second regiment? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, the timeframe for a decision is late 2025, perhaps early 2026, and then that capability will be introduced into service some years after that. 

Importantly, both are developmental in some aspects, the Lockheed Martin option involves development of the Precision Strike Missile, so is the launcher is proven but the missile is developmental. With StrikeMaster, the missile is very proven, but the launch vehicle of the StrikeMaster is developmental, so the important thing is to move at pace, but to derisk for Australian taxpayers. 

JOURNALIST: Could we just get a comment from Kongsberg about why Newcastle was selected of the 40 sites that you looked at, the proximity; we're just after a grab about that on camera, please. 

JOHN FRY: Sure. So we looked at about 45 sites, I think, around Australia. Newcastle came out as our preferred site, and that's why we took it obviously to the Commonwealth as our recommendation. 

So there's a bunch of reasons, obviously, you know, we are close to Newcastle Airport, obviously the air base here as well, we have obviously a seaport down at Newcastle, major arterial roads network, close to a large population base with a university and TAFE which is important obviously for letting us establish and build a strong workforce. 

Obviously it's a region in transition as well, moving [indistinct] energy and mining. So again, these high‑tech jobs, would be to get, I hope, a good workforce so we can come in and transition, becomes obviously Kongsberg employees doing this high‑tech work here. 

And I think the last thing is around the liveability. So Kongsberg is a very proud company, we really want people to come in and stay for a long time, and have a lot of training effort to train people up to do this type of very high‑tech work, and so we want to be in a location where people want to live and stay and be happy and stay with us for the long‑term. 

So that's really, when you look at all those [indistinct] you know, Newcastle out on top. 

JOURNALIST: And there was about 100 ongoing jobs; they'll be sourced from this area? 

JOHN FRY: Correct. There's 100 jobs just in our factory, but again, as we mentioned before around the supply chain, there's a whole bunch of jobs and still adding to other areas of manufacturing and things around supporting us. 

So we see this as, I suppose, a real critical capability to have in the Hunter, but I think we'll grow a lot more jobs than just the Hunter that are going to be here in our factory [indistinct]. 

MINISTER CONROY: And if I can add to that, John's absolutely right. Workforce development and retention is one of the critical drivers of the defence industry; it's one of our critical changes. So liveability is critical, and there's no better place in Australia to live than the Hunter and Central Coast. So that will be critical to workforce retention. 

The other thing is it builds on our proud legacy. As I said in my speech it was Newcastle steel that made the bullets and shells that we fired in World War II. The Hunter helped build the Collins‑class submarines and the air warfare destroyers, and we've got the Asia‑Pacific Maintenance Centre for the Joint Strike Fighters, the most advanced fighter jet in the world, right across that bush over there, and so it's a great base for work like this. 

JOURNALIST: I guess there could be some in the community that don't like the idea of missiles being built in their back yard, particularly locals here around Williamtown. Can you allay their fears? Any explosives? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, as Kongsberg made clear, the explosive parts of missiles will be integrated into the missile at an Australian Defence facility in Orchard Hills, that is in Western Sydney, so nowhere near where we're standing right now, so the explosive part will be done elsewhere, and that's really important. 

But when I take to people in our community, people understand the need for manufacturing in this area, they understand the need to be sovereign and independent and not rely on global supply chains for everything. When I door‑knock areas of diverse as Gwandalan and Eleebana, people have heard about this announcement and they love it, because it's high‑tech jobs helping make Australia safer. 

JOURNALIST: Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge, has raised some concerns about the initial communications over the project. Can you explain what the communication process was and respond to that?

MINISTER CONROY: Well, again, that's more a question, I think, directed at the airport. What I can say to you is that we announced this program as early as possible, basically within a month of me taking it through the National Committee of Cabinet. That's the earliest we make announcements like this, it's gone through an extensive community consultation process, including something like 87 or 88 public submissions received. 

As Peter Cock, the airport CEO said, it's gone through all its planning approval process. I think, to be quite frank, there are some people that are trying to use this announcement for their own petty political end, and they've just come out with outright lies about what is going on here and have failed to understand this. 

For example, every dollar to build the factory is being passed on to the Commonwealth. The airport will make money out of this and a management fee on top of that. So this is a facility that makes money for the airport, but then obviously benefits the ratepayers of Port Stephens and Newcastle Council who own the airport. 

So this is good news for the region, and I think there's people with their own agenda about unilateral disarmament of the military and other things that are just rubbish, and I just think they should get up to scratch with the facts, and that's why I was delighted to provide a briefing for Newcastle City councillors earlier in the week. 

JOURNALIST: Mr Conroy, Peter Dutton was in town yesterday, Paterson is being predicted as a battleground seat for the election. Is there any concern that it could change hands? Any thoughts this morning on the seat of Paterson? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, I'll let Meryl as the fabulous Member for Paterson make a contribution. But what I can say to you is every day I see Meryl Swanson fighting for the people of Paterson, and if the next election is going to be fought up here, then I welcome that, because it gives us a chance to talk about what matters to people in the Hunter. That's good‑paying jobs, real wages are lifting, it's tackling cost of living, whether it's our tax cuts, our investment in Medicare, and Peter Dutton has opposed every single one of those. He voted ‑ he spoke against the tax cuts, he opposed the tax cuts, he wanted to have an election on tax cuts, he's opposed all our investment in Medicare, he's opposed our energy bill relief. 

Peter Dutton stands for higher cost of living, he stands for lower wages, and if he wants to fight to put a nuclear power station in the Upper Hunter, then I welcome that, because that's a recipe for higher power prices and huge community uncertainty. I'll let Meryl perhaps ‑ this is her seat.

MERYL SWANSON: Thanks, Minister. Risky Pete dropped in on us yesterday and sprinkled some nuclear fairy dust. He, remembering, in government voted to put the zone off our coast, he and Angus Taylor brought the zone to our coast. He agreed to that then, and now he wants to say, make him Prime Minister. 

Well, what's he going to do when he's Prime Minister? Is he going to build a nuclear reactor in the Hunter? He says he is. He says he's going to stop offshore wind. We just don't know what he's going to do; he's the biggest risk to our nation, in my opinion, and I would say to the people of the Hunter, don't press the Dutton button, don't go with Risky Pete, go with a government that is investing in jobs, investing in energy and a future made in Australia . 

JOURNALIST: Are you worried about the seat? 

MERYL SWANSON: Jane, I am worried about the people of Paterson. I am worried about getting out of bed every day and fighting for things like this announcement. I am worried about healthcare, I'm worried about the cost of living, and providing people with the best opportunity to work hard, get ahead, earn more money, pay less tax and have a better life here in the Hunter. That's what I'm worried about. Thanks. 

JOURNALIST: Thank you. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, why has your Government got a trusted Defence insider to have another look at the submarine agency? You starting to lose a bit of confidence in how that endeavour is going under the ASA, and why not choose someone outside the Defence bubble to give you some really [indistinct] feedback. 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, thanks Andrew, for the question. I reject a number of the premises you put to me there. We've made tremendous progress on AUKUS since the announcement of the Optimal Pathway in early 2023, including the passage of the AUKUS legislation through the US Houses of Congress in late 23. 

We had the first maintenance tender period of a US Virginia‑class submarine earlier this year, we've announced the Henderson consolidation, we've had record numbers of Australian workers training in US shipyards, I announced the first contract with Bisalloy, an Australian steel maker to help build Virginia‑class submarines ‑ 

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] to look at ‑

MINISTER CONROY: We've got record numbers of Australian naval personnel training in the United States and the UK and topping their classes. 

But this is an incredibly complex task. It is always important to keep a close eye on it and make sure that we've got all the settings right. We've asked Dennis Richardson, who is one of the most experienced Defence experts in the country, former secretary of the Department of Defence, former ambassador to Washington, to look at our broader AUKUS settings, and to make sure that we've got everything right in the Australian Submarine Agency. 

This is an agency that has grown from the ground up, it's doubled in size in the last year and a half, and this is an appropriate avenue. I pose a counterfactual for you, Andrew. We can't just set and forget our institutional settings, it's important to check in regularly and make sure that we've got everything right, but we're hitting all our key milestones, and that's the critical point here. 

JOURNALIST: So he's not doing a review, but will you make his findings public, whatever they are, and why not have the ASA come before Senate Estimates before the end of the year? Why are you blocking that? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, again, we had Defence estimates very recently, and that gave an opportunity ‑

JOURNALIST: But not the submarine agency. 

MINISTER CONROY: They gave a full opportunity to explore all these issues, and we'll just keep working on it. As I said, AUKUS has been declared dead a number of times, every time we've confounded the critics, and we're hitting every major milestone, and we'll continue to do so.

ENDS