Press Conference, Canberra

SUBJECT/S: Investing in Australian-made radars to support Army’s long-range fires capability; Cook Islands; USAID; Oscar Jenkins; Trade; Trump Administration. 

CEA TECHNOLOGIGES, MARK FOSTER: Good morning everyone. I'd like to begin these proceedings by acknowledging traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to CEA Technologies. Thank you for being here witness the signing of the LAND8113 Phase Two multi-mission phased radar contract. It's an absolute privilege to be joined here today for this important event by the Honourable Richard Marles, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Honourable Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Development, and Ms Alicia Payne, Member for Canberra. I would also like to acknowledge Major General Jason Blaine and Major General Richard Vagg for joining us also. I would also like to now invite Ms Payne to come forward and say a few words, thank you.

MEMBER FOR CANBERRA, ALICIA PAYNE: Thank you very much and good morning everyone. It's wonderful to be here this morning at CEA Technologies, here in Fyshwick, in my electorate, with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Conroy to announce this new contract today, supporting local defence industry jobs, including right here in Canberra. CEA is one of the biggest employers in Canberra and such an innovative organisation. So it's wonderful to see this support today, and that Canberra jobs will benefit from this very important announcement today. And I'd like to hand over to the Deputy Prime Minister.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Thank you Mark and thank you Alicia. It's great to be here with wonderful the Alicia Payne, our Member for Canberra, but also be here with Pat Conroy, the Minister for Defence Industry. And today we are announcing a $272 million dollar investments in CEA radar technologies here for the acquisition of 14 units of active phased array radars. These will be for the Australian Army, which will be used for exquisite targeting and tracking in our long-range fires brigade. And they will form part of the new long-range fires brigade that we announced previously as part of the Defence Strategic Review and as such, the ultimate destination of these units will be at Edinburgh in Adelaide. CEA produce the best phased array radars in the world. They are one of the great success stories of Australian defence industry. And we are really pleased to be making this announcement, which supports 720 jobs here at Fyshwick, at CEA radars facility right here at Fyshwick. And it is an example of how we are boosting Australia's defence capability through this investment. This will greatly increase the Army's ability to engage in long-range fire– long-range fires to engage in targeting and tracking. This is absolutely an example of impactful projection, but this is also an example of the Albanese Government investing in building a future made in Australia. We need to be seeing more manufacturing in this country, and we need to be seeing more high tech-manufacturing, and you do not get higher tech manufacturing than what goes on here at CEA Technologies in Fyshwick. This is a perfect example of it. CEA contributes its radars across the Australian Defence Force. But not just that, CEA exports to the United States. As I say, they are one of the great success stories of our defence industry. This is the Albanese Government investing in building a future made in Australia. It is also the Albanese Government investing in much greater capability for our Australian Defence Force to keep Australians safe.

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY AND CAPABILITY DELIVERY, PAT CONROY: Thank you, Deputy Prime Minister, and it's a pleasure to be here with the DPM and Alicia Payne and Mark Foster and the CEA workforce and our colleagues from the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence. This contract signing today is an essential part of LAND8113 which is all about equipping the Australian Army with long-range strike. This was a critical part of the Defence Strategic Review and the National Defence Strategy, which was to respond to the strategic challenges that we face at the moment, to transform the Australian Defence Force, and in particular, transform the Australian Army into one focused on long-range strike and littoral manoeuvre. And 8113 is at the heart of that transformation. It's symbolic of the Albanese Labor Government's commitment to moving at speed to transform the ADF and give it the resources it needs to face the challenges that we confront. We've brought forward the infantry fighting vehicle acquisition by two years. We brought forward landing craft medium by two years. We brought forward landing craft heavy by seven years. They are all examples of us bringing capability forward to deal with the strategic challenges we face. We've also plugged the ten year capability gap in our submarine acquisition. All these problems were left to us by Peter Dutton when he was Defence Minister. And I'm sad to say, ladies and gentlemen, all this is at stake and could be lost under a Dutton government, because Peter Dutton is promising to cut $50 billion from the Defence budget. If that promise is– $50 billion is cut as part of his $350 billion worth of cuts to pay for his $600 billion nuclear folly, that means the loss of these important projects. That means infantry fighting vehicles can't be brought forward. That means the ten year capability gap with submarines will still be there. That means landing craft heavy can't be brought forward. All these things are at stake if Peter Dutton is allowed to return to the levers of power and to return to the bad old days of the early 2020s. And that's why this contract signing is so important. That's why this project is so important, because this represents another contribution, another symbolic reflection on the importance of an innovative defence industry. As the DPM said, CEA radars make the best active phased array radars in the world, bar none. They're so good that we're selling them to the United States. They're so good that the Australian Government is buying the company, because it is the crown jewels of the Australian defence industry. They're so good that this is where we launched the Defence Industry Development Strategy last year. So this is a happy day for the over 700 workers in CEA. It's a happy day for the Australian Defence Force because it means they're getting the most advanced kit in the world. And it's a great joy to be here with my colleagues on this happy day. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about the deal between Cook Islands and China? 

MARLES: We've obviously worked very closely with Cook Islands in terms of our relationship, and we also work very closely with New Zealand. And in doing so, what we seek to demonstrate to the Cook Islands, is that Australia and New Zealand are the partners of choice for the Cook Islands and that has to be the continued posture that we maintain in respect of the Cook Islands and obviously across the Pacific.

CONROY: I think it's important to note that as a New Zealand realm territory, these are matters that are best directed to the government of New Zealand. But I utterly agree with everything the DPM said about our relationship with Cook Islands. They hosted a spectacular Pacific Island Forum leaders’ week the year before last, and their relationship with Australia is very strong.

JOURNALIST: In a similar vein, Minister Conroy, are we seeing any impact from the freeze on the US aid spending, particularly with joint projects with Australia to do with DFAT? And are you concerned that that sort of withdrawal of the US may open the door to China to increase its influence in the Pacific?

CONROY: Look, Andrew, as Minister for International Development and the Pacific, I'm focused on what Australia is doing to support the aspirations and development goals of our partners in the Pacific. We are privileged to be the largest development partner of the Pacific. Last year, we allocated around $2 billion of ADA to the Pacific, and we'll continue to work with all responsible partners in that effort. And that's my response to your question. 

JOURNALIST: Just on that, Richard, did you raise the USAID pause during your trip to Washington last week?

MARLES: In meeting with the US Secretary of Defense, we obviously made public what we sought to make public in the comments that we did, and they focused on the defence relationship between our two countries. Beyond that, I'm obviously not going to go into the conversations that I had with Secretary Hegseth. I think the point I'd make in relation to this decision is that we've continually advocated to the United States, over many years, the need for it to play a part in the Pacific. And to be fair, the United States has stepped up its game in the Pacific and did so under the first Trump administration. It is clearly a critical part of the world, something that I and Pat have been advocating for a long period of time. There are many ways in which the United States engages in the Pacific – the US Coast Guard, for example, plays a really important role in respect of Pacific island countries. And we will continue to advocate to the United States about the importance of its role amongst Pacific island countries. 

JOURNALIST: Deputy Prime Minister, the Russian at the centre of the world's highest profile prisoner swap in decades says the only way to get Oscar Jenkins home would be a prisoner exchange like his. Is the government pursuing one to get Oscar home?

MARLES: Again, I'm not going to comment in relation to those consular matters, other than to say that we are very actively engaged in pursuing Oscar Jenkins’ welfare. Obviously, as I've said previously, Russia has obligations here, and it is very important that they maintain those obligations, and we will hold them to account in respect of those. 

JOURNALIST: Any evidence that he's alive yet, from the Russians?

MARLES: Well, again, we've seen the information that Russia has put into the public domain – and we know that it is information from Russia, so we seek to verify that, and we've been working with both the Ukrainian government, but also the International Red Cross to verify that. But if the information that Russia has made available is true, well then that means that Russia has obligations in relation to Oscar Jenkins. We expect Russia to maintain those obligations, and we will hold them to account in respect of it, and we will continue to pursue the welfare of Mr Jenkins.

JOURNALIST: What's your understanding of the verbal agreement between the US and Australia over aluminium exports? Do you know what that limit was?

MARLES: Well, I don't and ultimately that is a question best directed to Peter Dutton and the Coalition. I mean, whatever has happened there has happened under the former government. 

JOURNALIST: On CEA, obviously they're not going to be part of the SEA300 general purpose frigate, initially, in what's being tendered at the moment. Do you envisage, though, that maybe in later batches of the ship that the CEA radar will be installed on it?

MARLES: I think let's see how it unfolds in relation to the general purpose frigate. The point I'd make in relation to the general purpose frigate, which we've been making from get go, is that the priority here is speed into service. I mean, we need additional service combatants. We have made the highest priority here, in terms of general purpose frigate, to have a service combatant put into service as quickly as possible and this will be one of the fastest, if not the fastest, acquisitions that we have seen in peacetime Australian history, and that remains our priority. The general purpose frigate is going to have its life within the Royal Australian Navy and I’m not going to speculate on how that plays out. But our priority right now is to see that those frigates are brought into service as quickly as possible.

JOURNALIST: Back on the tariffs, what will you do to press Australia's case for an exemption? 

MARLES: I think you've seen this. I mean, I understand there's a lot of noise around in relation to the tariffs and I can understand that, but I think people need to just have a clear eye on what occurred yesterday. We had a conversation between the Prime Minister Australia and the President of the United States, in which it was decided that the United States would give active consideration to an exemption for Australia in relation to the tariffs that the United States announced. I can understand why that exemption is in place, from an American point of view, there's about $100 billion of two way trade between the United States and America, and it very much has a US surplus, almost two to one. It's in the interests of both the United States and Australia that that trade is tariff free. And to the extent that we export into the United States, it supports American jobs. Clearly, we as a trading island nation have an interest in freer trade around the world and that's an interest that we've been advocating to the United States government. Given what was announced by both the Prime Minister and the President yesterday, what we will now do is to seek to make the case that I've just put to you, to the Americans, for why an exemption is in the interests of both Australia and America. 

JOURNALIST: Under the last administration, it took nearly a year to have those tariffs removed. Would you hope that the process is quicker this time?

MARLES: Well, again, I'm not going to put a timeline on that. What we will do is actively make the case. And you've seen that. You've seen in terms of the way in which we've engaged with America since the Trump Administration was sworn in, knowing that there are going to be policy changes. They were elected on a mandate of change and we have to respect that. But we have been making our case to the United States in respect of all of our interests. But I’d also make this observation: we've actually been treated with enormous respect by the Trump Administration. Penny Wong was, I think, the second foreign minister to be met by Secretary Rubio, I was the first defence minister around the world to be met by Secretary Hegseth. We've now seen two calls between the Prime Minister and the President, with the announcement that was made yesterday by both of them. We are getting our hearing. They are treating us with respect and we will continue to make the cause–make the case in Australia’s national interest. Thank you. 

ENDS