Radio interview, 5AA

INTERVIEW WITH STACEY LEE
FIVEAA ADELAIDE
TUESDAY, 21 JANUARY 2025
SUBJECTS: Announcement of a $262 million program to boost Australian defence industry, AUKUS agreement expected to remain in place, defence spending.

STACEY LEE: The Federal Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Pat Conroy has been in town today with a funding announcement related to AUKUS. He joins you now.

Good afternoon, Minister, thanks for your time.
    
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY PAT CONROY: My pleasure.

STACEY LEE: So you've brought the chequebook with you, how much have you signed on the cheque today?

MINISTER CONROY: I've announced a $262 million program to boost Australian industry to win work in the supply chains of not just our submarine construction effort but of our AUKUS partners in the United Kingdom and the United States. So this is all about more jobs for South Australians doing really important work to help make Australia safer.

So it was great to be down at the submarine port at ASC at Osborne with Mark Butler and Louise Miller Frost and the South Australian Premier and Treasurer to make this really important announcement.

STACEY LEE: And so will that $262 million be going directly to South Australian businesses that already have contracts for the AUKUS deal, or is it for maybe new businesses to be able to get involved?

MINISTER CONROY: This is for new businesses and existing businesses to win new work.

STACEY LEE: Okay.

MINISTER CONROY: So it's in three buckets of money. One's what's called the Defence Industry Development Grants Program and that's about funding really advanced companies to get more equipment, so more manufacturing equipment, or training so that they can compete and win work.

The second is entering the global supply chain program for a couple of big UK and US submarine companies so that we'll be establishing offices so that their task will be to scour their entire supply chain and look for opportunities for Australian companies to win work in their supply chain.

And the big one's what's called the Defence Industry Vendor Qualification Program, which is all about getting Australian businesses qualified to the safety and the standard to build parts for nuclear powered submarines. This funding will qualify another 125 companies to do that.

There's a great example already of a South Australian business called AML3D, and that's partnering with a US Navy industrial base to produce parts for valves that are going into Virginia class submarines for the US Navy. So a South Australian company making parts right now that will go into US Navy submarines.

So it's a great example of what we can do as part of the AUKUS effort.

STACEY LEE: It is amazing to see, you know, having been out to some of the businesses that work in the supply chains of some of these big defence programs, it's amazing to see how much work and time and effort and skill can go into even what seems to the layman a really small part, you know, you say it's part of a valve. And I've been out to some of these suppliers and they're spending hours and hours working on getting what looks to me just like a tiny little knob of steel, but they need to get it perfect.

MINISTER CONROY: Yes.

STACEY LEE: And they need to get the size perfect, and it needs to be the right type of material, and if it doesn't, you know, in my mind the ship's going to fall apart. So it's really high-tech stuff.

MINISTER CONROY: It is. It is the most advanced manufacturing in the world and that's why AUKUS is the greatest industrial undertaking this country's every attempted, and it will drive 20,000 high tech, high skilled jobs.

You're absolutely right, the standards to produce parts for nuclear submarines is the toughest in the world. They've got to survive the most extreme environments, and as you alluded to, if the tiniest part fails then that's really problematic for the entire multibillion dollar submarine and the safety of those brave sailors.

So it's really awe inspiring that there's already great innovative South Australian companies that are winning work and we want to see that number grow, and that's why this $262 million announcement is so important because it's about more jobs for South Australia and making Australia safer.

STACEY LEE: Now there had been a lot of talk ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration that, you know, lots of commentators saying, "Oh, is AUKUS going to be potentially on the chopping block and the AUKUS deal", I won't get into that but there was also some rhetoric about the spending that Donald Trump might demand of America's allies, especially Australia and the UK in regards to the AUKUS deal. I think in his last term he wanted NATO allies to increase their defence spending from about 2 to 3 per cent, and he has spoken about increasing that again this year and asking allies of the US to increase their defence spending to around 5 per cent. So can we read into this announcement or is it   that it's been announced today or is that just coincidental that it's the day of the inauguration?

MINISTER CONROY: Well it's coincidental in that we're intent on rolling out these programs as part of our effort to make sure that AUKUS succeeds, and that's why we're spending significant amounts of resources. This is a project that will make Australians safer.

I think you're right to sort of talk about what President Trump did in his last term, particularly around NATO allies, and he was trying to make the NATO allies in Europe spend 2 per cent of GDP. I know there's sort of debate about whether he'll go further now but that was a campaign to lift their spending to 2 per cent.

Under the Albanese Labor Government, we are spending 2 per cent of GDP, so 2 per cent of our national economy on defence. Our plans have that lifting to 2.3 per cent of GDP over the next 10 years, slightly over that in fact. And so under us that is secure and we're investing more to make sure that our Defence Force has the equipment it needs to help defend Australia.

It would be remiss of me not to point out that Peter Dutton's current policy is to cut $50 billion from the defence budget, which will make Australia less safe. It'll mean not getting the right equipment into the ADF and it means endangering jobs in places like South Australia. So I'd love for him to commit to at least our targets before people start talking about lifting them again.

STACEY LEE: Does this funding announcement today, can we assume this means that the Federal Government is pretty confident that the AUKUS deal will remain in place? If you're spending $262 million, you'd hope it's not going to be wasted if there's a potential the deal could be ripped up.

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we are very confident. Marco Rubio, who's to be the new Secretary of State, so the equivalent of the Foreign Minister, in his confirmation hearing he said AUKUS   words to the effect that AUKUS is the gold standard that he thinks agreements should be like.

I was in Washington at the end of 2023 for the passage of the historic AUKUS legislation that authorised the transfer of those US submarines to Australia, and that got an 80 per cent yes vote in the US Senate, and the Senate is evenly divided 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans. So there's incredibly strong bipartisan support in the United States.

I'd also make the point that AUKUS is an arrangement that is multi decades in length. It will outlast governments of all persuasions. We've already seen changes of government in the United Kingdom and Australia and the commitment to AUKUS if anything is stronger under those new governments.

I'm confident it will continue, and it will continue because it's in the strategic interests of all three countries. By growing the industrial base of all three countries, getting better equipment into our soldiers, sailors and aviators we make our country and the other two countries safer, and we also create 20,000 highly paid, high skilled jobs.

STACEY LEE: Before I let you go, Minister, do you plan on doing anything else while you're in Adelaide? Of course you've been out at Osborne today making the funding announcement, any visits to any seats, any Federal seats that may be swing seats ahead of the election?

MINISTER CONROY: That's a very cynical attitude there. No, I will be visiting a whole range of innovative defence small and medium sized sites tomorrow, including some in Louise Miller Frost's electorate of Boothby where she's doing a great job. I will be with Tony Zappia in Makin and Matt Burnell in Wakefield. There are some great companies in South Australia, it truly is the defence State and I'll be making a number of funding announcements tomorrow of more work being won by innovative South Australian companies, which means more jobs in South Australia and a safer Australia as a whole.

STACEY LEE: Okay, Minister, thank you for your time and enjoy your tour of South Australia's Federal election seats while you're here.

MINISTER CONROY: I always do. Have a great afternoon, take care.

STACEY LEE: See you. You too.

MINISTER CONROY: Bye bye.

STACEY LEE: Pat Conroy there, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery.

ENDS

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