E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
SYDNEY
THURSDAY, 6 MARCH 2025
SUBJECTS: Supporting Australian Industry through AUKUS; Tropical Cyclone Alfred; Defence Spending.
ANNIE KEELER, HYCAST GENERAL MANAGER: Hycast is honoured to welcome Deputy Prime Minister Marles and Minister Bowen. Thank you both for being here. It's an exciting day for our business. It's been in my family for three generations. We focus on manufacturing parts for critical industries like mining, transport and defence. The skills and capabilities within this foundry keep our trains running, mines operational and the Defence Force strong. We're really excited at the prospect of contributing to the Virginia class supply chain, starting in the US and ultimately supporting the Australian AUKUS nuclear submarine program. Together, we can drive innovation that will shape the future of our defence capabilities. Thank you.
CHRIS BOWEN, MEMBER FOR MCMAHON: Well, thanks for having us here today, Annie. It's always a pleasure for me to spend time with my mate, the Deputy Prime Minister, but a particular pleasure to welcome him to my community here in Smithfield, Wetherill Park. Smithfield-Wetherill Park-Erskine Park Industrial Estate is the biggest industrial estate in the southern hemisphere. It powers Australia. It provides what we all use every day, from the from the Logie to things which are everyday events in airports and factories around Australia. Companies like Hycast make those things here in Smithfield. I'm particularly pleased to be back with my friends at Hycast, a great Australian family owned business of three generations through the Kell family. I'm always a very excited visitor, but I'm particularly excited to welcome the Deputy Prime Minister here today to show off the Smithfield-Wetherill Park-Erskine Park Industrial Estate and the Hycast facility, and for him to make further announcements about the next steps for Australian industry and defence. Richard.
RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you, Chris. Thank you, Annie, can I welcome Michael Lempke and Eric Chewning from Huntington. I'll speak about them in a moment. But it is also really great for me to be here with my good friend, Chris Bowen. We're ministerial colleagues, and we spend a lot of time sitting around the Cabinet table together, but today, really, I'm here as Chris' guest, and Chris is here as the local member. And it's fantastic to be in Smithfield, right around the corner from where Chris lives, and to be on his home turf to announce something really exciting for Australian industry, but really good for Western Sydney. Today, we are announcing the Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification Pilot with Huntington Ingalls Australia. Huntington Ingalls is America's largest naval ship builder and one of two companies that produces nuclear‑powered submarines for the United States Navy. And one of the really exciting opportunities that comes from AUKUS is really building the seamless defence industrial base across our three countries, which enables companies like Hycast to participate in the supply chain to build Virginia class submarines in the United States, and for that matter, the supply chain to build Astute class submarines in the United Kingdom. Today, we are announcing that Huntington Ingalls will, in a pilot process, qualify Australian companies to participate in the Virginia class submarine supply chain in the United States. There are so many companies around Australia which have really good skills. We've seen that here with the metal castings that are done by Hycast. And with a bit of tweaking, those skills and capacity can be brought to bear in terms of providing components to submarines. But at the same time, the supply chain for a Virginia class submarine is one which has a lot of barriers to entry. There are obviously very significant qualifications in respect of the quality of the components, but also the security that's involved; the security of the systems, the security of the data. And so what Huntington is doing is qualifying Australian companies for their capacity to provide the quality components needed, but also to ensure that their systems, their management of data, and all of those processes which are required to have a security level which enables them to participate on the Virginia class supply chain. And this is then a fantastic opportunity for a company like Hycast. Hycast does do Defence work right now for the Australian Defence Force, principally the Australian Army. It has not, up until this point in time, done work in the maritime sector or the naval sector, I should say. But it is an example of how a company which does do really good work and has incredible skills, which we've seen today, can be used to produce components for an American Virginia class submarine. The end game here, of course, is that in qualifying Hycast to participate in the American supply chain, we qualify a company that will be able to build Australia's own nuclear‑powered submarines when we build them in this country. Now, yesterday, I was in Adelaide, and we talk about the building of our future submarines as the biggest industrial endeavour in this country. That's well understood at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide. But the truth is that in order for that to occur, we really need to activate the industrial base of the entire nation. This is not just an opportunity for Adelaide, this is an opportunity for Western Sydney. It's an opportunity for companies like Hycast. And this is the pathway to be able to provide components now into the United States and in the future, be a part of building Australian nuclear‑powered submarines right here in Australia. Yesterday, we were very proud to announce Australia's AUKUS Submarine Industry Strategy. A key component of that strategy was enabling companies right now to participate in the supply chains to the US and the UK on both the Virginias and the Astute class submarines, respectively. So this very much is in line with that strategy. And what this does is create jobs here in Western Sydney, create industrial capability here in Western Sydney, in fact, create industrial capability for our nation and most importantly, at the end of the day, create military capability for Australia's Defence Force. Michael.
MICHAEL LEMPKE, Huntington Ingalls Industries: Thank you Deputy Prime Minister, it's a pleasure to be here on behalf of the 44,000 employees, the men and women of Huntington Ingalls globally, who support the defence force for our Alliance. It's especially wonderful to be here to have an opportunity to participate in the announcement of the partnership with the Australian Government, and of course, our continued collaboration with our friends at the Australian Submarine Agency, and of course, our focus on industry leading the AUKUS initiative, through partnering in collaboration with high calibre, high quality companies such as Hycast. And I will tell you, when you think about the need for industry across the Alliance, the opportunity for us to integrate seamlessly the industrial base, as the Deputy Prime Minister alluded to, leads us to an ultimate outcome where the Alliance has uplifted the industrial capability and capacity of all three partner nations. That is our success metric for AUKUS at the end of the day. And starting at a family owned firm, standing next to the third generation to run the firm, representing a company who has fifth and sixth generation ship builders building ships for the United States of America, shows you that there is a terrific linkage in the values and the culture between the two organisations. We're very happy to stand here, to collaborate with the industrial base, partner with the Government for the ultimate success of creating sovereign Australian capability to the benefit of all three nations in the AUKUS alliance. So thank you very much for the opportunity to partner and to continue to grow in our presence in Australia and certainly Annie, we look very forward to having the opportunity to work with you at this amazing blend of industrial capability and artistry that we had the chance to look at today. So thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: On Cyclone Alfred, has the ADF cancelled any planned exercises or activities in anticipation of needing to be sent north to those affected areas?
MARLES: Look, I'm not aware of us having cancelled any exercises, but what we are is very prepared to contribute to the effort around Cyclone Alfred. Right now the focus has been in relation to sandbags, and the Australian Defence Force has contributed more than 300,000 sandbags over the last couple of days to help enable the community to prepare itself for the cyclone making landfall. But we're also postured to be prepared to do door knocking, in fact, I think there is door knocking going on, on the part of the Defence Force now. As this unfolds, we're anticipating the need for high clearance vehicles, the need for air lift, all of that is being postured so that we are ready to respond immediately. I've spoken with the Chief of the Defence Force to make sure that the ADF is leaning forward, working with National Emergency Management Australia. Obviously, this is a really significant event which is affecting the people South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales, but they should have a sense of comfort at least, that the Australian Defence Force will be there, and every capability that we can bring to bear in terms of assisting those communities in this really difficult time will be brought to bear.
JOURNALIST: And how many personnel are on standby to help?
MARLES: Yeah, look, how many personnel that will be engaged as a bit of a function of what ultimately occurs. One of the advantages that we have here is that Brisbane is actually a significant Defence city. The Seventh Brigade is based at Gallipoli Barracks in Enoggera; Amberley is one of our two big Air Force bases just to the west of Brisbane. Between those two, they're two of our biggest Defence Force bases in the country. There are actually thousands of personnel across both of them, so we've got quite good capacity in terms of the numbers of people who can be involved in this if need be, and also those bases provide a real place from which we can operate and project the capabilities that need to be.
JOURNALIST: Are there any concerns that the Trump administration might try and coerce or push its partners in the Pacific to lift the spending on defence to 3% of GDP, as they have in Europe.
MARLES: Look, I mean, the first point I’d make about that is we're increasing our spending on defence. As I've often said, in a rational world, defence spending is a function of strategic threat and complexity, and we face strategic threat. And so we've been increasing our defence spending significantly since we've come to office, far above what we actually promised at the last election. Indeed, the additional $50 billion over the decade is the biggest peacetime increase in Australia's defence spending since the end of the Second World War. And that's something that is very well understood by the US administration. I can obviously understand the US administration seeking for its friends and allies around the world to do more, that's a conversation that we will continue to have with the US administration, and we very much understand where they're coming from. But it's really important to understand we are increasing that spending right now. What's important is that that become a bipartisan position, and right now, the Liberals are not supporting the $50 billion increase in defence spending that we have put in place. They are rather stubbornly sticking to what they describe as the existing defence envelope that they took to the last election, which is $50 billion less than what we've got, what we have put in place in the Budget. And with the threat of three $50 billion being cut out of the Budget, it would appear that defence spending is very much on the chopping block. That cannot be allowed to happen. Defence spending is fundamentally important, and we need to be moving down a path of increasing our defence spending, not doing what the Opposition would have us do, which is to take us backwards.
ENDS
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