Television interview, ABC

SUBJECTS: Kiribati and Solomon Islands visit; Trump Administration; AUKUS; Ministry changes. 

ANDREW GREENE, HOST: Richard Marles from Kiribati, thank you for your time and for speaking to the ABC. You've had already a busy day there. Talk us through your meetings with the newly re-elected government and what, if anything, has come up about China.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've had a really productive day here in Kiribati. We commissioned the second Guardian class patrol boat, which is the first time that Kiribati will be operating two patrol boats under the Pacific Maritime Security Program that we've been operating with Kiribati actually for more than 30 years now. But that's a very significant step forward in terms of capability that Kiribati has and they very much understood that Australia is at the heart of that. And there was a lot of gratitude expressed. Literally just prior to coming on air, I've done a roundtable with a number of cabinet ministers here in Tarawa which was led by Vice President Teuea Toatu. And you know, there's a real sense of warmth, I think, from those in the newly elected Kiribati government about the relationship with Australia, about how we can take this forward over the next four years of their term, and how fundamentally we can put at the centre of that the challenge improving human development in a remote part of the world where there's a small population and where there's a real challenge in terms of building a diverse economy. But we've got a lot that we can do in partnership with Kiribati to meet that challenge. And I think there was quite a lot of excitement about how we can work together in doing that.

GREENE: This week you're also travelling to Solomon Islands, a nation that's already signed a security agreement with China. Is that a danger of happening in Kiribati as well?

MARLES: Well, look, I mean, our focus in respect of Kiribati is obviously our own relationship with Kiribati. Having the second patrol boat is very important in terms of Kiribati’s capability. We are taking our relationship forward with Kiribati. And as I've long said, you know, the Pacific is a place of geostrategic contests. We all understand that.

GREENE: Mr. Marles, given the Trump Administration is about to come to power and there is a suggestion of a more inward looking United States, do you expect Australia will be having to do more in this part of the world?

MARLES: We have been saying for a very long time that Australia needs to bring intent to its relationship with the Pacific, that we need to see our relationship with Pacific island countries as front and centre in terms of our priorities and our worldview, and we've been putting that into action.

GREENE: In Washington, we see new Congressional budgetary analysis outlining just how difficult the AUKUS endeavour is. Are you confident that the United States will be able to lift the production rate of Virginia class submarines, particularly when it's also grappling with trying to produce Columbia class boats?

MARLES: I am. And the challenges that are being described, the challenges that we've been aware of from the outset, really from the moment that we came to power, and it's why we've reached the agreement that we have with the United States where we're making our own contribution to the United States industrial base so that it can improve its rate of construction of new submarines.

GREENE: And you're not anticipating President Trump, the businessman, coming back, asking for more?

MARLES: Well, we've got an agreement with the United States which we're following through and it's having a benefit for the United States as it will have a benefit for Australia. It's an agreement which works in the strategic interests of both of our nations.

GREENE: This week we've seen some Cabinet changes following the departure of Bill Shorten. Firstly, can I get your reflections on his contribution to Parliament and also the diminishing presence of Victorians in Cabinet? We haven't seen people like Bill Shorten or Brendan O'Connor replaced by other Victorians.

MARLES: Well, firstly, in relation to Bill, I mean, Bill is a giant. I mean the career that he's had, the contribution that he has made in government during the Rudd Gillard Government and all the work that he did at the very beginning of the NDIS, and now as the NDIS Minister in the Albanese Government. He is a person who leaves the political stage having definitely left a very positive mark on our nation. But he's also been a leader of our party and a leader of our party over six years, a very extensive period at the helm of the Australian Labor Party. There are very few people who have done that and so he goes as a person who has not only left their mark on the nation, but is an esteemed and very significant leader of our movement. And obviously he goes with our best wishes. It's very hard to replace people like Bill, but when I look at the Victorian ranks, there are plenty of people coming through and I've got no concerns at all about Victorian representation in the Ministry, not only now, but going into the future when you look at the talent which is coming through amongst the new generation of Victorian MPs.

GREENE: Richard Marles from Kiribati, thank you very much for your time.

MARLES: Thanks, Andrew.