Press Conference, Brisbane

SUBJECT/S: Australia-PNG Defence Ministers’ Meeting; Chinese Naval Vessels off the Coast of Australia; Ukraine Conflict; AUKUS. 

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: It is wonderful to be here today and to host the Australian-Papua New Guinean Defence Ministers Meeting with my good friend, Dr Billy Joseph, the Papua New Guinean Minister for Defence. Consistent with the guidance that's been given to both of us by our respective Prime Ministers to enhance and build bilateral relationship between Australian Papua New Guinea, today, the Minister and I are announcing that our two countries are commencing negotiations to establish a defence treaty between Australia and PNG. This will be a treaty with ambition. It will be the most significant defence agreement between our two countries since Papua New Guinean independence. And to that end, it is very significant that we are negotiating this in the 50th year of Papua New Guinea's independence. This will help our two defence forces to work much more closely together. Already, Australia's biggest defence cooperation program is in Papua New Guinea. Already, there is extensive training which occurs amongst the Papua New Guinea Defence Force in Australia. But this will enable our two defence forces to walk down a pathway of increasing integration and increasing interoperability. Right now there is a Status of Force Agreement between our two countries which dates back to 1977. This agreement will very much enhance the effect of that agreement- back in 1977- to take into account the huge work that our two countries do together, and will enable us to work much more closely together in the context of all the efforts that we are bringing to bear in 2025 and beyond. We live in a world which is increasingly strategically complex. This is a moment where it is really important that we are working with our closest of friends, but in this case, we are working with family, and that is very much how we see our relationship with Papua New Guinea. It is an enormous honour for me to be participating in this as I know it is for Billy. And to that end, I really want to acknowledge the leadership of Billy Joseph and Prime Minister James Marape. This is actually a Papua New Guinean led initiative. Billy spoke to me in December of last year about the prospect of taking this forward, and we could not have been more excited about the opportunity that PNG is presenting to both of our countries. So, I really want to thank you for your leadership in this respect, we think this is a huge opportunity to give expression to what both of our Prime Ministers have asked us to do, and that's to take our relationship.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA MINISTER FOR DEFENCE, THE HON. DR. BILLY JOSEPH: Thank you DPM Richard. We’ve come a long way. My country, Papua New Guinea probably would be independent- would have been independent for 50 years by the 16 of September this year. But the relationship between PNGDF and ADF goes way beyond that, and it goes down to 1943-45 in the Second World War. That's when PNGDF was created by ADF. And so we have come a long way in that relationship, and our two Prime Ministers have made announcements that there needs to be more integration between PNGDF and ADF. And I have sat down and look at how we can make that happen. And the legal framework to make that happen is to put on the path of increasing the relationship between PNGDF and ADF, and that is by way of this treaty. And I want to thank the Prime Minister Albanese and the Deputy Prime Minister and everybody that has helped us to come here, to the point where now we are talking about the treaty. It is the first time in our history, the history of my country, that treaty has been signed between another foreign country. And it is really fitting that that country is Australia, because we got independence from Australia- and at the same time, we are very close to each other. We live about three kilometres apart from each other. That's the distance between Australia and PNG. And it is really important that with the geopolitics and all the different contexts that's going on, we have consciously made a decision to choose who should be our friends, and as far as the treaty is concerned. And we have many friends, and we treat those friends uniquely in different levels, but in Australia, we are, as my Prime Minister has said, tied to the hip -we are very close. And it is really fitting that on the eve of the 50th anniversary of our country, we looking at having a bilateral treaty, security treaty with Australia. We looking forward to it. And leading to that, Talisman Sabre is an exercise that conducted in Australian territory for as long as it was conducted, we have another defence cooperation program, PNGDF and ADF has had many trainings and programs that we have run together, but Talisman Sabre has never run in another foreign country. And with the context of the discussion that we're having with regards to the treaty, and with the 50th anniversary coming on, we want to thank Richard Marles and the Australian Government for the first time, bringing Talisman Sabre to PNG. And part of the program, of the exercise which will be conducted on PNG soil. And it will be happening towards July, and that will be towards the 50th anniversary celebration of our people and my country would be really happy and appreciative of the effort that Australia has shown to demonstrate the defence capability that you have in our country.

MARLES: Perhaps just a word on Talisman Sabre. I mean Talisman Sabre is the most significant exercise that the Australian Defence Force engages in every second year, and this is a Talisman Sabre year. It is shaping up to be a big a Talisman Sabre as we have ever conducted. But this will be the first time that we are taking Talisman Sabre to Papua New Guinea, to another country, and it will see Australian and Papua New Guinean servicemen and women operating next to each other in this exercise, and it will see our assets being engaged with each other. But this will be an element of Talisman Sabre which actually happens in Papua New Guinea. And so in the history of that exercise, which we principally do with the United States, but does involve now a number of other countries, this is a very significant step forward. And so we're very pleased to be able to announce that decision as an outcome of our meeting today as well. Questions?

JOURNALIST: Dr Joseph, Deputy Prime Minister, obviously you've just announced Talisman Sabre, will there be any other Australian rotational forces or military presence in Papua New Guinea as a result of this treaty?

MARLES: Well perhaps the first thing to say is; we have our largest defence cooperation program anywhere in the world, in PNG. So there are Australian personnel who spend time in Papua New Guinea as part of our defence cooperation program, and we engage in multiple exercises every year with our Papua New Guinean colleagues. And so the agreement that we are seeking to negotiate at a treaty level really will enable the evolution of that cooperation. I think the exact dimensions of that is something that we need to work through, but the principle here is we want to walk down a pathway of much greater interoperability, but actually towards a point of integration. We really are working together as a team. And that is the intent of the agreement that we will seek to negotiate, and the specifics of what that then means in terms of increased engagement in our respective countries will be negotiated as we go forward. 

JOURNALIST: Minister Marles, can I ask you about the Chinese warships spotted in our region, New Zealand says they're also monitoring those ships, but hasn't been informed on what they're doing in the area. Is Australia also in the dark, and you saw information from the Chinese government?

MARLES: Firstly, we're working very closely with New Zealand, we've been engaging with Papua New Guinea because, in fact, the task group, elements of the task group went both north and south of Papua New Guinea on its journey to where it is now, which is off the coast– off the east coast of Australia. I mean, the first point I make is this task group is doing is acting in accordance with international law, they're entitled to be where they are. Australia is also entitled to be prudent. And we are monitoring very closely what the activities of the task group are. What we will do whenever this mission is over on the part of the Chinese task group is to engage in a full assessment of what the Chinese were seeking to achieve in respect of this mission, but both naval and air force assets have been deployed to make sure that we are monitoring exactly what is occurring here. And we are working with our other partners in the region, and we'll continue to do that for as long as the Chinese task force is in the vicinity of Australia. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, do you believe Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a dictator?

MARLES: No, but nor am I about to walk down a path of giving a running commentary on all the remarks that are made by the US President. I think the point I want to simply make is this; we really obviously welcome many efforts to bring about peace, I mean, of course we do. The war in Ukraine has seen an extraordinary loss of life. It cannot be peace on any terms. And to be clear, I don't think America is talking about peace on any terms. We have, from the outset, made clear, and we continue to make clear, that the war in Ukraine must be resolved on Ukraine's terms, because the aggressor here is Russia, and what we see at stake is the integrity of the rules‑based order, the global rules‑based order. That's why we provided about $1.5 billion worth of support to Ukraine. Our position has not changed. So we are here supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes for this conflict to end on Ukraine's terms. We welcome attempts to bring it to an end, but it cannot be on any terms, it must be on Ukraine’s terms, and we'll continue to support Ukraine in that. 

JOURNALIST: So what happens if Donald Trump and America, now he’s in, decide to jump to the other side of the fence and say that they're on Russia's side? 

MARLES: No one’s going there and that's not what's coming out in terms of commentary or in terms of statements from the US, so we shouldn't be asserting that. We welcome efforts to try and bring about a peace, of course we do. The conflict has yielded an enormous tragedy for certainly the people of Ukraine, I think, in fact, the people of Russia. And so we do want to see an end to this conflict. But I reiterate, Russia is the aggressor here. It was Russia that invaded Ukraine. It was Russia that breached the international rules‑based order. I mean, when they invaded Ukraine, they were not doing anything by reference to international law, they were acting by reference to power and might, and that simply cannot be allowed to stand. That's why we support Ukraine in what it's doing, we support Ukraine in its defence, and we support Ukraine in upholding the global rules‑based order, which absolutely engages Australia's national interest. 

JOURNALIST: Just on AUKUS. Do you think that America's restoring relationship with Russia will have any impact on it, and do you feel AUKUS is in jeopardy? 

MARLES: Again, I don't necessarily accept the assertion in question in relation to the US and Russia. AUKUS is a really important arrangement between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. When I had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Hegseth a week or so ago, it was incredibly warm but supportive about what we're trying to achieve, what both our countries are trying to achieve with AUKUS. AUKUS is fundamentally a good deal for the United States, as of course it is for Australia. AUKUS is going to greatly enhance Australia's military capability through us being able to operate nuclear-powered submarines, a capable long‑range submarine. But AUKUS is obviously really good for the United States as well, because it is going to see an ally with increased capability, but it's going to also play a role in building American production and American availability of its own Virginia class submarines. So it works for both of us, as it does for the United Kingdom and our three countries are going to be continually committed to bringing it to fruition.

ENDS