Press conference, Beresfield

SUBJECTS: Opening of new JFD facility in Beresfield, manufacture of hyperbaric recompression chambers, local jobs.

ALLAN DU TOIT: Good morning everyone, I'd just like to extend a very warm welcome to you all to our new facility here in Beresfield. I'd like to extend a special warm welcome to the Minister and also to the local member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson. It's great to have you both here [indistinct] what is a very special day. 

As an established partner for the Royal Australian Navy, both for submarine escape and rescue and also for diving hyperbarics, we're committed to capability in Australia. 

Although this facility is the smallest of our three facilities in Australia, it is without doubt the jewel in our Crown. This [indistinct] manufacturing facility produces and maintains and exports steel recompression chambers by Defence and for civil use, not only in Australia but around the world. 

We've moved from the facility in The Hunter and at Warners Bay, we're keeping it in the family, we've moved to this part of The Hunter to this exciting new facility. 

We've exported chambers as you can see behind us, 137 of those to the US Navy, and that's quite an amazing story for a little company in The Hunter exporting over a number of years to the United States Navy, and indeed seven in the last 18 months, worth a total of 110 million Australian Dollars. And the total export funding of the totals we've exported over the years totals some $67 million. 

We're a proud member of Australia's Defence Industry, supporting local jobs, local chains and local manufacturing. 

On that note can I ask Meryl to say a few words. 

MERYL SWANSON: Thanks. Thank you to Allan and thank you more broadly to the JFD team for welcoming the Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, here today. 

This is a story of friendship and rivalry. I know the Minister's going to stand up and say this business used to be in Warners Bay, in his electorate, and it's made a move here to Beresfield, to Paterson to my electorate. 

But you know what, there's a broader story here, and this is a story of The Hunter and how brilliant we are at manufacturing, and how we excel at high‑end specialist manufacturing that not only helps protect our nation, but we are protecting the nations that are our allies, like America. 

When we've got these incredible chambers being exported, being bought by the American Navy, the very pinnacle of defence across the world, then we know we've got great reason to be very proud. 

And this also goes to a story of Defence industry excellence in The Hunter. We have decades, and dare I say it, generations of incredible expertise, whether it's in pressure welding, in high-end manufacturing, and now in Defence Industry. We continue to absolutely contribute to the defence of our nation and the security of our world from right here in The Hunter at a place like Beresfield. 

And I know that the move is one that a lot of people were very excited about in this business. Coming here to Beresfield, once that M1 that we have funded is finished, they'll be able to jump on that and go to Sydney or Brisbane. We've seen products being able to move more easily across our region and across our State, and this is such a brilliant and wonderful example of when Defence Industry partners with local industry and there is benefit all round; investment, jobs, our trade, all of those things come into the picture more clearly. 

And, again, I really want to thank the workers here at JFD who not only produce world‑class products but also contribute to the defence and the security of our nation. It is so important. 

Anyone in the Defence will tell you that you are only as good as the gear you're operating with, and here in The Hunter we are producing the best gear, and I just want to thank the Minister for coming over to visit me here in Paterson. 

I'm really sorry, I've pinched the [indistinct] Minister, but we're a team Hunter, and we're super proud to have JFD here in Beresfield, and more importantly, as part of a vibrant Defence Industry in Australia defending our nation. 

Thanks everyone for being here. Thank you, Minister. 

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY, PAT CONROY: Well, thank you for having us here, thank you to Allan and Kathy and the rest of the team for welcoming us, thank you to my fabulous friend, the Member for Paterson, Meryl Swanson, who is‑ there is no stronger advocate for the Australian Defence Industry in Parliament than Meryl, who is Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Defence Industry. 

And it's a great joy to be here today to do a couple of things, including opening the new facility here, which is state‑of‑the‑art. Around over 2000‑ sorry, over 10,000 locals work in the Defence Industry in The Hunter. We are critical to defending the nation, and I want to thank every single employee of JFD standing behind me, 'cause every day they get up and make Australia safer, and over 10,000 residents of The Hunter get up every day and make Australia safer by being part of the Defence Industry. 

And as Meryl said, we really do punch above our weight. We are at the centre of world‑class manufacturing and JFD is an example of that. JFD make the best hyperbaric chambers in the world, full stop, bar none. And you don't have to take my word for it, take the word of the US Navy who have been buying hyperbaric chambers off JFD and its predecessors for decades, and that's a tribute to the skilled workforce standing behind me. 

So it's a great pleasure to be here today to officially open this building, but also to announce two new contracts for JFD worth $190 million; a $90m contract to continue to provide the submarine escape and rescue service that our brave submariners rely on, and a $100 million contract to the sustainment and maintenance of hyperbaric chambers for the Royal Australian Navy, including the one sitting behind me right now, $100 million contract. 

These two contracts worth $190 million will support over 120 jobs that JFD have across three sites, including an opening of a Centre of Excellence for Sustainment at their Caringbah facility. 

So my message to people in The Hunter is, if you want to get up every day and work on the most advanced equipment in the world, if you want to get up every day and work on making Australia safer, think about jobs at places like JFD and the other facilities we have in this region, because you'll be backed by the Albanese Labor Government that is putting record amounts into the Defence Industry, that is spending $22 billion last year alone for the Australian Defence Industry, that is increasing the Defence budget by over $50 billion to support the over 100,000 Australians who work in the Defence Industry, who get up every day and make this country a safer place. 

So, I'd like to thank everyone for being here today, and Kathy, are you making remarks here on the ribbon cutting- at the ribbon cutting? Excellent. Well, we'll be happy to answer some questions about today's event. 

JOURNALIST: I just wanted to ‑ I'm not sure what your name is, if you just say your name and title for us to start with? 

ALLAN DU TOIT: Allan du Toit and I'm the Chair of JFD Australia. 

JOURNALIST: How do you spell your last name? 

ALLAN DU TOIT: Du Toit. 

JOURNALIST: The spelling? 

ALLAN DU TOIT: D-U, separate word, T-O-I-T.

JOURNALIST: Thanks [indistinct]. 

ALLAN DU TOIT: Pleasure. 

JOURNALIST: Sorry, sorry to make you walk away. Can I just get you to I guess explain to people who have no idea what this is behind you, what it actually does -- 

ALLAN DU TOIT: Absolutely. 

JOURNALIST: ‑‑ and how it works. 

ALLAN DU TOIT: So recompression chambers are there primarily for the safety of divers. If there's a diving accident and someone has a problem with pressure, you put them into the recompression chamber, and we can maintain the change of pressure. 

[Indistinct] the face of it will then marry up with a larger facility where we can have medical staff, a doctor, also maintaining the pressure and move them at pressure between one chamber to the other, and then slowly bring them back to normal atmospheric pressure and treat them in the process. 

But it can also be used and is used for when we do deep diving and we need to be able to bring people back up to avoid getting the bends, so there's both a treatment and an operation function. 

JOURNALIST: And what does this ‑‑ 

MINISTER CONROY: And if I could supplement that, these are critical for the safety of our Navy divers. These need to be on standby to support them when they're doing diving exercises. This is critical for them when they're engaging in some quite risky activities. 

And besides supplying the US Navy, JFD have also supplied the Royal Thai Navy, so people may remember a few years back that incredible rescue of the Thai soccer team in those caves. A JFD chamber was on standby to support the rescue efforts. 

So here in The Hunter, we were a critical part of rescuing that soccer team and as a tribute to the safety and the precision engineering of the workforce behind me. 

JOURNALIST: And what does all this funding mean for your company? 

SPEAKER: Allan, just got to the front platform. 

ALLAN DU TOIT: Absolutely. It's significant, because we ‑ our presence in Australia dates back to 2009, and from where we started, humble beginnings in WA, we've now got three sites across Australia, it's about, you know, more exports, more services to the RAN, and building up the workforce. 

JOURNALIST: Thanks Allan. 

MINISTER CONROY: And just a bit of history of this site, obviously JFD came to Australia in 2009. One of the companies they acquired was a company called Cowan Engineering based in Warners Bay, run by Bob Cowan who was head of Hunter Manufacturing. 

So this is an example of two companies coming together providing, combining their excellence and their skills to make an even stronger company that can support the Royal Australian Navy. 

Any other questions? 

JOURNALIST: Just on a slightly different issue. Yesterday the interim report of the Nuclear Committee came out, said that nuclear power in Australia will be an unacceptable risk. Obviously just down the road Liddell Power Station's being targeted as one of the ones that could potentially become a nuclear power site if Peter Dutton was elected. 

Could you just sort of explain what that could mean for, I guess, The Hunter region and the Port Stephens region if that was to happen? 

MINISTER CONROY: Yeah, I will do that. I just want to check and be respectful to the workers behind me before I do that. Are there any other questions about today's announcement? Fine. I might ask ‑ I'm going to get political, so if you don't want to be [indistinct]. You're welcome to, but I'm going to be pretty brutal, so you don't need to be [indistinct]. 

Peter Dutton's nuclear fantasy is a recipe for higher power prices, higher greenhouse gas emissions and more community uncertainty. To put a nuclear power station in an earthquake zone is an act of lunacy, and I'm being very clear with you on that. 

We've had something like four or five earthquakes in the Upper Hunter in the last year alone, so for anyone that thinks that that's a good place for a nuclear power station, quite frankly, is an idiot. I've been very frank with you there, and if you ask community members here, they understand that. 

Secondly, the amount of water that will be required is massive, even more than ‑ double what was required for coal‑fired stations that are there right now. 

Thirdly, it will put up power prices by on average $1,200 a year, and in addition to that, where is Mr Dutton getting this money? He has to cut $350 billion worth of government services, including $50 billion from our Defence budget, to pay for his $600 billion nuclear fantasy. 

So, it's a bad idea for a nation, and it's a much worse idea for The Hunter region. 

JOURNALIST: I have a question just about the Chinese warships offshore. 

MINISTER CONROY: Sure. 

JOURNALIST: How [was it that Virgin pilots [indistinct] about live firing off our coast before the Defence Force? 

MINISTER CONROY: So standard practice in navies around the world is to give 12 to 24 hours’ notice of an intention to undertake live firing exercises, that's what the Royal Australian Navy typically gives. The Chinese Navy did not do that, and we've lodged our concerns about that with the Chinese Government. And that's our position on that. 

I noticed that Andrew Hastie was talking about this this morning, the Coalition's Defence spokesperson, and in his interview, he just lied, he lied barefaced about a number of measures, he lied about when we will be getting our next naval vessels. 

Under his plan of the government he was part of, we will be getting our next frigate in 2034. We've accelerated that so we get our next frigate under the Albanese Labor Government's plans in 2029, and we'll have four frigates by 2034 compared to his one. 

Secondly, he called for an increase in the Defence budget. Well, guess what? We've increased the Defence budget by $50 billion. His policy and the policy of Mr Dutton is to cut $50 billion of our Defence budget. Not only will that make it impossible to deliver the frigates that we will be ordering on the accelerated timeline, secondly, it imperils the 100,000 Australians who work in the Defence Industry right now. 

So, I would be very clear about our concerns that we've lodged with the Chinese Government about how they've been operating in the South Pacific. But I'm also very concerned about the lies and mistruths that Andrew Hastie and Peter Dutton continue to propagate around Defence matters, and his policy of cutting the Defence budget by $50 billion. 

JOURNALIST: There's a concern in that the [indistinct] has nothing to do with Defence offshore, [indistinct] like before this who was aware of this rather than our own Defence Force? 

MINISTER CONROY: Well, we made it very clear to the Chinese Government that they should follow the practice of all other Navies and give 12 to 24 hours' notice of an intention to conduct those sorts of exercises. 

Thanks very much everyone. We're going to do the ribbon cutting now.