PM: National security is the first responsibility of government and defence, within that is the first responsibility of government. And part of planning for the future means planning for our future defence needs.
What the Government is determined to do is to ensure that Australia meets our future defence challenges.
Later this year we will be delivering our first national security statement to the Parliament - the first time Australia has had such a statement to the Parliament.
And that will be followed by a defence White Paper, which will outline Australia's future strategic scenario, Australia's future defence capability needs and our future recommended force structure.
This is an important year because the decisions we take this year will shape very much what Australia's defence forces look like out to the middle decades of this century.
This 21st Century is the century of the Asia Pacific. We see the rise of huge new powers in our own region. Economically strong, but on the back of economic growth comes also greater investment in military expenditure. And as a result of that we have therefore, huge increases in military spending here in our own region, our own neighbourhood, our own backyard.
So Australia's response to that under the Government that I lead is that Australia must be prepared.
And therefore it is important that we are in a position in the future to deal with any future challenges which might arise, both through our defence preparedness but also through our wider national security policy and foreign policy actions also to try and ensure that we have a peaceful and stable environment through this century.
One of the challenges we face is the fact that there is not just this increase in military expenditure across this region, but also that presents therefore challenges in terms of Australia's ability long term to defend its own sea-lines of communication.
When we look at places like this where we have huge exports going to the rest of the world, we must be in a position in the future to defend Australia's own sea-lines of communication.
That means having sufficient naval capability to do it.
If we are going to defend our sea-lines of communication to the rest of the world, we have got to make sure that we have got the naval capability to underpin that. And Australia therefore must have necessary maritime power in the future in order to give that effect.
The challenge that we face is that as of when the Government took over, navy in particular was under severe stress. For example within navy there is something like 24 separate skills categories which are currently suffering considerable personnel shortfalls, 24 separate skills categories. That is the challenge that we inherited.
Now across our naval personnel where we have something like 11,000 plus personnel, we must as a matter of priority start to rebuild those skills deficits in our navy. So the challenge for us in the future is not just to reequip navy with the necessary numbers of personnel, but to make sure that we have got enough naval assets out there to defend our sea-lines of communication.
So to conclude: first line of responsibility for government is defence. And part of defence is to make sure that we can defend our sea-lines of communication to make sure that our exports get to the rest of the world. And to do that Australia needs sufficient naval capability into the future, and we therefore need to close the skills gaps which currently exist within navy, the 24 sets of skills gaps that we inherited from the previous Government.
That's going to take a lot of work, it's going to take a lot of planning, it's going to take a lot of finance. But this is the direction in which the Government's thinking heads as we move towards the completion of the Defence White Paper for later this year, and the national security statement as well. Over to you.
JOURNALIST: So are you proposing a dramatic expansion of the Navy?
PM: Well, Australia is a maritime state. We have significant maritime interests, not just in terms of our own immediate interests in the south-west Pacific, but more broadly in the defence of our own sea-lines of communication.
So as a nation you've got to be serious about defending your sea-lines of communication in the future. And that means having sufficient naval capability to do it, and it means planning ahead to the middle of the century to make sure that those ships, subsurface and surface ships, are planned for, that they are invested in and the personnel necessary to keep them operating are there.
And as I've said, as of when the Government took over, we've inherited a real problem on our hands. Navy at present, absent any expansion, is having difficulty providing personnel in all its critical skill categories. There's a major job of work to be done here.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) on top of the spending that we already know about?
PM: The Defence White Paper will go to the detail of that. The Government has already indicated that for the next decade, we intend to provide three per cent real annual growth in defence outlays. That is to give our defence planners certainty for the future.
The Defence White Paper will begin to outline the sorts of investments that the Government and the nation needs to make.
What I am doing today, and following on from my address to the RSL National Conference here in Townsville last night, is to indicate very clearly that for the Government a major priority is to ensure that we have got enough naval capability in the future, enough naval assets, enough naval personnel, and therefore enough funding put aside to invest in that long term.
We are either serious about Australia as a maritime power into the 21st Century or we're not. This Government is serious.
JOURNALIST: Are we sending the right message to our foreign neighbours? Are we becoming paranoid of them?
PM: Well, we have got to deal with facts and reality. Australia is in a region where there is an explosion in defence expenditure, or arms expenditure, across large parts of the Asia-Pacific region. So, you can either ignore that, or you can take practical steps in response to it at the defence level.
But secondly, it's a question of what you also do through your diplomacy. Remember in the first nine months in this Government what I've advanced is a proposal for an Asia-Pacific community. That is a community involving all the states of the Asia-Pacific region, so that we can foster a common culture of security cooperation, not conflict.
So what I'm saying is you need a strong diplomacy to encourage peace, stability and cooperation - at the same time being vigilant in the preparation of our national defence.
Both of these are part of an integrated national security strategy. Not one, not the other, but both.
JOURNALIST: It has often been said that there is potential at Townsville for a naval base. What do you think about that?
PM: Well, the Defence White Paper will examine the future of where all of our defence assets and defence installation should be.
Townsville is critical to the defence, long term defence assets of Australia. The air force base here is extremely important. The army base is extremely important. These are core elements of Australia's overall defence posture.
Future planning, however, on the detail of installations and the detailed deployment of assets, that's best left to the Defence Chiefs. What I am saying though, as the country's Prime Minister is we need to prepare for the future.
There is an arms build up across the Asia-Pacific region, and Australia therefore, must take appropriate preparations for the long term future itself, at the same time as advancing our diplomacy.
Both these things are part of an integrated, rational approach to national security policy.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) an arms race if we are building up our Navy in the region?
PM: Well can I say that there has been an arms race underway, or an arms build- up let me put is in those terms, across the Asia Pacific region for the better part of the last decade.
What I am saying is when I look at Navy, the Australian Navy, we need to make sure that we have enough capability there to deal with future challenges. And the Navy that we have inherited is one which has 24 major skills categories where we don't have enough personnel. That's right now before we talk about any enhanced naval capability.
There is a huge job to be done here. What I am saying is the Government is up to the task because we believe it's important for the future.
Strong defence, strong foreign policy, encouraging peace, cooperation and stability, at the same time making sure that Australia is always prepared. And in this part of Australia, Northern Australia, North Queensland knows very much what it's about to be prepared.
JOURNALIST: Inevitably mean that we don't have to increase our defence budget quite significantly wont it?
PM: Well what we have allocated already is the only area of Government that we've quarantined from efficiency dividends in Canberra is the Defence budget. That's why we have indicated with absolute clarity three per cent real growth for our defence budget out for the next decade. That is a guarantee not given to any other arm of Government, any other arm of Government.
And the reason is our defence planners need that level of certainty. We will examine carefully what the Defence White Paper says on the detail, both for this decade and beyond. But I am saying quite clearly that if we are to be serious as a maritime power and defending our sea-lines of communication, Australia needs a naval capability which is able to do that.
We need to plan for it, we need to provide the manpower for it and we need to provide the funding for it.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)
PM: Let's see what the Defence White Paper has to say. As I said the Defence White Paper will take us not just to the next decade but the critical thing for all Australians to understand is that we are making defence decisions here which take us out to the middle of the century, the middle decades of this century.
And we are looking at a time in the Asia Pacific region and world history where for the first time in several hundred years we are going to have powers other than Anglo Saxon powers who will be dominant players in the world and therefore Australia must be prepared through its diplomacy, through its foreign policy and through its defence policy.
And that's what I describe as an integrated national security policy and more of this will be developed in the national security statement which is made to the parliament soon.
JOURNALIST: Question on climate change quickly?
JOURNALIST: International panel on Government panel on climate change report recently about meat consumption dropping down to one meat session a week. Any comments on that?
PM: One
JOURNALIST: Eating meat only once a week.
PM: I kind of like meat so I will have a read of that report. Thank you.