: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, the Honourable Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister Albanese, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence Industry and Capability, and the Honourable Madeleine King, Minister for Resources, here in Western Australia. Members of the press, welcome to HMAS Stirling. This is the home of a significant portion of the Royal Australian Navy’s Surface Combatant Force and it has been the home now for many decades for the Australian Submarine Force, this last couple of weeks and the weeks ahead remain one of the most significant days in the history of our submarine capability. I’m going to let Vice Admiral Mead, DG of the Australian Submarine Agency, talk to that in a little bit of detail. But I want to welcome you all here to HMAS Stirling, to acknowledge what is one of the most significant days for our submarine community as we take a very important step along the professional mastery journey as we learn to manage maintenance and stewardship of naval nuclear propulsion. I’m pleased to say, my final words, we are on schedule and on track. Welcome.
VICE ADMIRAL JONATHAN MEAD, DIRECTOR-GENERAL AUSTRALIAN SUBMARINE AGENCY: Thank you Mark, this submarine tender maintenance period with USS Hawaii in the background here is a tangible demonstration of the progress of the optimal pathway and our ability, particularly with Western Australia, to support US and UK, US nuclear powered submarines being supported here in 2027. For the last nine months, Australia with our trilateral partners and the whole of government, Western Australian Government, other nuclear agencies and industry have worked together to make this happen. We’ve seen tangible interchange between people diving in the water, working in the FSUs or in the maintenance facilities or with our Australian sailors. I had the great privilege last week of escorting Admiral Bill Houston, the Director of Naval Reactors, the one who essentially runs their nuclear program, and his UK counterpart, Ms Madelaine McTernan. They were most satisfied with the progress that we have made over the past two years. Admiral Houston made a public comment that said that he believes we are on track to support US nuclear powered submarines at HMAS Stirling in 2027. This is a historic day, it’s a historic moment, and we are making history every day. Thank you very much.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much. This is indeed a historic day and what we are seeing here is demonstrated in real time the progress that has been made since we gathered at San Diego last year to launch the optimal pathway towards the AUKUS arrangements. This magnificent sub here, USS Hawaii, that we were able to have a tour on, and I want to thank our US friends for enabling that to occur today. One of the people we met there was an Aussie, an Aussie who’s trained, an Australian who is learning the skills on the job, who’s been on the USS Hawaii for four months after the training that he undertook in the United States. It is absolutely critical that as well as infrastructure and access to nuclear powered, conventionally armed, submarines that we will have, and then we will build our own with the USS AUKUS. It is important as well that we recognise this is also about labour, it is about personnel, the people to operate these nuclear powered submarines. And that presents an enormous opportunity for jobs here in WA as well as in South Australia, but right around the country. Here in WA, there will be about 3000 jobs created directly as a result of this. And there’s a very proud local member here in Madeleine King and a couple of the people that we just met in the lineup, they are literally from Rockingham. They are very much locals who are securing their own future whilst securing Australia’s future. And what we will do is today we want a jobs for subs program that we are launching. There will be 200 apprentices trained in highly skilled jobs connected with the operation and maintenance of these nuclear powered submarines. That presents a real career path, as well as the additional people who are working for ASC and working through TAFE, who we’ve also met who are being trained here by South West TAFE. This is an opportunity for Australia that we must seize, because this is about, as an island continent, making sure that our national security is looked after. But at the same time, we see this as a part of a future made in Australia, that agenda that says we can make things here, we can have highly qualified people trained to fill high paid, high value jobs. And today’s announcement is just the next step in ensuring that happens in the future.
RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Prime Minister. Right now, the USS Hawaii is undertaking intermediate level maintenance here at HMAS Stirling. This is the first time that an American nuclear powered submarine has received maintenance outside of American territory and has been worked upon by non-US citizens. That’s the significance of what is happening here with the USS Hawaii right now. But in the context of the journey under AUKUS, of Australia acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability, this is the first step in that maintenance journey. This is the first maintenance that we will be doing, or we’ve done in Australia on a nuclear powered submarine. And in that sense, it is profoundly significant. It is being undertaken by American and Australian service personnel working together. We’ve had 37 Australian service personnel embedded on the USS Emory, which is a tender maintenance ship which is here for the maintenance period of USS Hawaii. So there are Australians alongside Americans doing this work. As the Prime Minister said, right now on board USS Hawaii, we have Australian submariners who have gone through the nuclear propulsion school in the United States who’ve done incredibly well. Indeed, one of the officers we met topped his class. And this is a person gaining the skills of how to operate a Virginia class submarine in preparation for when Australia has our own flagged Virginia class submarines. This is a really critical step in our journey of acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability. What we need to be able to do is to be able to maintain nuclear powered submarines here in Western Australia, both American and Australian flagged Virginia class submarines, and in time, our own Australian built submarines. And when we look at that maintenance journey, it starts here with the maintenance on the USS Hawaii. That is why this is such an important step forward. It is the major event in the AUKUS calendar this year. As the Prime Minister also announced, there are 200 new opportunities in ASC around submarine maintenance, almost all of which are here in Western Australia. Entry level personnel, graduates, apprentices, trainees. This is enabling ASC to acquire the people with the skills that they need to do this work. But in the same breath, this is a great opportunity for young Western Australians to get this incredible opportunity to work on such an impressive platform. Both these are very big steps in our pathway to acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability. But they are just the next steps, steps that we’ve been taking each and every day since we have come to office. And we are moving down this path of acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability with determination, with resolve, but as Admiral Mead pointed out, we are doing it on schedule, on time. AUKUS is happening.
JOURNALIST: Will this maintenance program, the first alongside an Australian Navy base, include the removal of low level waste?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: No. So, there is no radiological material that’s actively being worked on as part of this maintenance period. And so there is no even low level nuclear waste which will be generated by virtue of this maintenance period. Obviously, there is no nuclear material coming off the submarine, as there never will be. But even the low level nuclear waste, the kind of thing, gloves, wipes, that would be, you would see in our universities, in our hospitals, around the country, not even that is occurring in relation to this particular maintenance period.
JOURNALIST: When does that start?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, as we work through this, we will work out various maintenance periods. And if the question really goes to the management of nuclear waste, I point out what we’ve said previously. There’s an ability to deal with low level nuclear waste, that kind of material which you would see generated in hospitals and universities around the country. There’s an ability to deal with that here in the short term, by that I mean at HMAS Stirling. In the medium to longer term, we’ll be looking at options in relation to that. I’ll just point out so there is no conflation here that the high level nuclear waste, that is the nuclear reactors, we have committed to dealing with those, but we don’t need to deal with those until the early 2050s.
JOURNALIST: Just on that, Bill Houston last week said, as the Vice Admiral flagged, that, you know, he acknowledged that the transfer of the submarines from America down the track is conditional on us being able to maintain them, which is clearly, you know, as you say, we’re on that pathway. But also conditional on having the appropriate stewardship arrangements for nuclear waste. How is that tracking? How is the sort of international arrangements with the IAEA going? Are they in place yet, or are they still coming?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ve been working, so, there’s a few things in this. Firstly, in terms of the IAEA, we’ve been working very closely with them, making absolutely clear that all the steps we’re taking in respect of AUKUS meet our international commitments around non proliferation. And indeed, the treaty level agreement that we signed a few weeks ago in Washington, which really underpins the announcement that was made by our Prime Minister, along with the Prime Minister of the UK and the President of the US in San Diego in March of last year. That agreement affirms our commitments in terms of our international obligations, including those around non proliferation to the IAEA. It is right, as Admiral Houston said, that we are very focused on being nuclear stewards at the highest level possible in terms of handling nuclear powered submarines and ultimately the Submarine Rotational Force – West that will be based here, and ultimately the Australian flagged vessels that will operate from here. There is absolutely issues around dealing with nuclear waste. It is low level nuclear waste that we are talking about in the shorter term, and we are well capable of dealing with that. That is not unprecedented in the sense that that material is being dealt with around the country, literally each and every day. We’ve made clear that in terms of the high level nuclear waste, we will announce the means by which we will determine a site shortly. That is not to say we are determining the site shortly, we are determining the process for that. But we don’t need to be dealing with that waste until the early 2050s. But the final point I’d make is that in being a nuclear steward, it goes well beyond the question of nuclear waste. I mean, one of the things that you will have noticed on being here is, for example, the increased AFP presence, the Australian Federal Police presence. There’s a significant presence here by virtue of the USS Hawaii being in Port. Making sure that we have those kind of security arrangements around this base is a key part of that nuclear stewardship. At every level we are meeting every KPI, and we are doing that on schedule, which is what Admiral Houston observed when he was here last week.
JOURNALIST: The 200 apprenticeships, when will the first of those hit?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, that’s being rolled out over the course of the next two years, so that will happen very shortly. And it is apprenticeships, but not just apprenticeships, graduate level traineeships as well. But it’s going to be a great opportunity. Pretty well, all of those are going to be here in Western Australia, so it’s a great opportunity for young Western Australians.
JOURNALIST: How will people be able to apply for those?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Well, ASC will be reaching out and making the information available for those applications.
JOURNALIST: Can you talk to a dollar value for the program?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: We’re not announcing that dollar program right now. I do have that number in my head, but we’re not putting it out there.
JOURNALIST: It sounds like a big number in isolation, but in the context of AUKUS it’s not massive I suppose. Can you give a sense of how it fits into the broader scale of AUKUS?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: I think you pretty well summarised it perfectly. It’s a big number, but within the context of AUKUS, it’s not that massive, to quote you. Like, that’s perfectly what it is.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for the question.
JOURNALIST: Can you talk about the role ASC workers have played under the maintenance availability and what that might look like for future maintenance availability?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, well look, as we just met, walked along now, we met a number of folk from ASC who are participating in this maintenance. So it is ASC, but it’s not just ASC. It’s people wearing, members of the Royal Australian Navy who are also participating in this. But we also met folk from South Metro TAFE who are doing the training of these people. So, there are literally entry level trainees and apprentices who are here right now, like today, maybe just over there in the high vis, who are going to have the opportunity of working on this maintenance, which is just an amazing experience. And this is the steps that we are taking to make sure that we are building up the skills here in Western Australia. And it all forms part of the story that I outlined earlier. The significance of this moment is that you cannot have a nuclear powered submarine capability without the ability to maintain the submarines. And that maintenance journey is beginning right now with the USS Hawaii.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can we ask you some questions about AUKUS?
PRIME MINISTER: Sure.
JOURNALIST: We all know China now has the world’s largest navy. Is AUKUS designed to fight World War III or prevent it?
PRIME MINISTER: AUKUS is designed to serve Australia’s national interest, working with the United States and the United Kingdom, which is, of course, our traditional allies. The alliance with the United States has been in place, forged by a great West Australian in John Curtin, really laid the foundations for that arrangement that has served Australia well. This is about our own national interest here. We were convinced of the benefit, and having been on the Hawaii here, again, it just reinforces the advantage that nuclear propulsion brings to a submarine’s capability. It is more capable in terms of length of staying under, speed, stealth – all of those arrangements mean that it’s a more effective piece of hardware that is important for an island continent like Australia. There’s nothing more important than having a navy which is strong.
JOURNALIST: Scott Morrison has told us that achieving AUKUS would be a moonshot. And he said that quite proudly. Others have said that achieving AUKUS would be a series of miracles. How would you describe it?
PRIME MINISTER: I describe it as happening. It’s happening right now, this process. I have been to the north of England to Barrow there and had a look and met Australians who are there, embedded. There are Australians in the United States, both in the mainland of the United States and the continent of North America, but also in Hawaii. There are Australians here being trained. There is Australians serving on the Hawaii. This is happening now. It is increasing our capability of our Defence Force. It is good for our national security. And what’s more, some of the scepticism that was there and the criticism that was there about the attitude of our neighbours has been, they accept, that this is Australia serving our national interest.
JOURNALIST: [INAUDIBLE] the apprenticeships, is that going to be enough? Are we on track to adequately staff AUKUS?
PRIME MINISTER: We certainly are, and it’s not just the 200 that we’re announcing today in the jobs for subs program, is an additional program. But on top of that we’re seeing, quite literally, the young people over there in the high vis are being trained at South Western TAFE, South Metropolitan TAFE, here in this local community. That is happening. We have Australian submariners who are doing courses in the United States and are nailing it, are doing very, very well. And I know that the Chief of Navy and Vice Admiral Mead and others are very proud of the personnel and the high results that they are delivering.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, that’s great for Western Australians and jobs but where are we going to house them? Do we have enough hospitals and schools as well for families who are moving to Rockingham?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, infrastructure is something that will continue to work with the WA Government on. But everyone who I met who’s working, all the Australians, whether they’re working at ASC, whether they’re undertaking courses in TAFE or whether they’re naval personnel, were all just so proud of what they are being able to deliver for our nation and they’re providing service for our nation, but they’re also providing service for themselves and their families. These are good, secure jobs into the future.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: So just on, on Friday, we had the first meeting at a Commonwealth, state and local government level here in Rockingham, around how the three tiers of government are going to work together on the all things in relation to the Submarine Rotational Force – West. But that very much includes both infrastructure and housing. So if you look at defence housing, for example, the Commonwealth is taking the lead on that, as you would expect, in relation to the housing of Australian Defence Force personnel, but also any housing or accommodation needs that are there for the serving personnel of other countries. Earlier this year, Defence Housing had an open approach to market around the construction of new houses in this area, the leasing at volume of houses. We’re also boosting the capacity, the accommodation capacity here on Garden Island at HMAS Stirling. But we are working very closely with both the West Australian Government and the local municipality to make sure that all those issues around infrastructure and accommodation and health, as you mentioned, are there up and ready by the time we get to 2027, which will be the beginning of the Submarine Rotational Force – West.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you think the RBA is smashing the economy?
PRIME MINISTER: What I would acknowledge is that many Australians are doing it tough. We have an economy that is growing, but that growth is very modest. What we’re doing is working with the RBA to make sure that we reduce inflationary pressure in the economy. And I do note that there’s nothing new in what Jim Chalmers has said. He has said that consistently in the parliament. We have spoken about cost of living pressures that people are feeling, and our job has been to provide that cost of living relief, whether it be the tax cuts for every taxpayer, energy bill relief on people’s bills, child care, cheaper child care, Fee Free TAFE. All of these measures have been designed to provide cost of living relief without putting pressure on inflation. And that’s why we’re very proud that we have seen inflation cut in half of what we inherited. It peaked back at the beginning of 2022. Inflation moderated to 3.5 per cent last week. On an annual basis, we want to see it moderate further. And one of the things that we’ve done as well, of course, is produced two budget surpluses.
JOURNALIST: What is to blame for that little growth?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the global economy is under pressure. Inflation isn’t something that is unique to Australia, far from it. And when I was in the Pacific Islands Forum just last week, some of the countries in our region had double digit inflation. So that has had an impact on the economy, but we’re continuing to see as well, jobs growth in this country. We’ve created on our watch more than 980,000 jobs. It’s nearing a million. That’s a good thing. And that means, that’s obviously something that a Labor government will always focus on. And at the same time as well, we’re seeing real wages increasing.
JOURNALIST: The Treasurer specifically referred to rate rises which are smashing the economy.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, rate rises have an impact on the economy.
JOURNALIST: Smashing them?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, rate rises have an impact on the economy. That’s what they’re designed to do, is to dampen demand. And the Reserve Bank have a role to play in monetary policy. Our job is fiscal policy to make sure we both want, have the same objective, of getting inflation to moderate. We, of course, have other jobs as well as the Reserve Bank Governor has said, which is to look after people’s interests. And that’s what we’re doing. And that’s what we’re doing.
JOURNALIST: Would your Government like to see a rate cut before the end of the year?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Reserve Bank, of course, are independent and so we don’t tell the Reserve Bank what to do.
JOURNALIST: But you must have a view, your objective is to address cost of living.
PRIME MINISTER: I do have a view. My view is that the Reserve Bank are independent and that’s my view, and we don’t give instructions to the Reserve Bank. They’ll make their decisions. What our job is to do is to create an environment where when we are focused on how do you make cost of living relief in a way that doesn’t put upward pressure on inflation. That’s precisely what we’ve been doing. That’s why we designed the energy price relief plan the way that we did. That’s why Australians have benefited with more than half a billion dollars. More than $500 million has been saved with our cheaper medicines policy. And just yesterday, the 1st of September more medicines went on the list to have that 60 day dispensing which has made such a difference.
JOURNALIST: Did the Treasurer over egg it?
PRIME MINISTER: The Treasurer’s comments were absolutely nothing new. He has made the comment about the economy slowing for a long period of time. And economists are expecting, when the figures are released this week, that they will show a modest growth. That is just a fact.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, private hospitals are struggling to operate under the current funding systems areas [INAUDIBLE], even in WA of patients with private health insurance being referred to public hospitals because there aren’t enough clinicians to treat them in the private hospitals. What’s your Government going to do to address this problem?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we are doing is making sure that we can train more doctors, more nurses. That we’re working with, state and territory governments, that we’re working with the areas where we have responsibility as well, including Urgent Care Clinics where just down the road here, I opened one of them. What Urgent Care Clinics are doing is providing a filling of the gap between the local GP and the emergency departments of our hospitals, be they public or private, so that people can have somewhere to go to get that care that is urgent but not life threatening. And all they need is their Medicare card.
JOURNALIST: Hospitals are really struggling, though. Now we’re seeing that now impacting public hospitals. Would your Government consider paying or forcing private insurers to add more money into the system, or even giving money to the private hospitals?
PRIME MINISTER: Those issues would be a matter for the Health Minister. We don’t announce new, an entire restructuring of the health system whilst we’re doing the AUKUS focus today, with respect.
JOURNALIST: The Greens say Labor has handed the RBA a box of matches and is now surprised it lit a fire on inflation. What’s your response to this?
PRIME MINISTER: That the Greens are irrelevant to serious economic policy debate in this country. They’re not serious players. You know, you had Adam Bandt go to the Press Club last week and announce hundreds of billions of dollars of new taxes. They never have to add anything up. I mean, thank goodness that the Greens aren’t in charge of economic policy. That’s my response.
JOURNALIST: Is your party aligned now on what will be in the next census? And why was there so much confusion about this last week?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the ABS were going to do a survey. They had some draft questions which we felt were, could have created confusion there. So we stopped that testing of those draft questions going ahead. My party is completely aligned on valuing every single Australian. That’s what we do. We value every Australian, regardless of their sexual orientation, their gender, their race, their faith. That is who we are as a political party and as a movement. That’s something I’m really proud of. This is something that was paused last week because the census is in 2026. It is now 2024. Our focus in 2024 is on getting that downward pressure on inflation, is on cost of living relief, is on all of those issues and there’s lots of time to sort out those issues prior to 2026.
JOURNALIST: A question on AUKUS if I can, Prime Minister. It’s very clear over the last two decades that China has spent its money buying Australian iron ore to create its fleet and weapons. It now seems that Australia is using the money it makes sending that iron ore to China to defend itself against China. Is there not a ludicrous irony to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Look we, AUKUS makes sense for Australia’s national interest and it also makes sense Australia, and here in the great state of Western Australia, the resources sector, standing next to the Resources Minister here, has been really important for Australia. We’ll continue to export our resources, including to China and other countries. What we want to do, though, and what I was looking at yesterday was how we can value add. I want to see a future made in Australia. I want to see more value adding here wherever possible, because that’s how you create jobs and you create value. And that makes more sense than waiting for the value and the jobs to be created somewhere else before we import the finished products back. Thank you very much.
