PRIME MINISTER: What a great day for the Navy and a great day for Australia.
Commissioning HMAS Hobart, the most capable modern warfighting ship of the Royal Australian Navy.
Part of our commitment to keeping Australia safe in uncertain times, ensuring that we make the investments and the capabilities of the Australian Defence Force so the men and women of the ADF have got the tools to keep us safe, to keep Australia safe.
I am here with the Defence Minster and Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin. Together we’ve seen the spirit of this commitment of the ships company of HMAS Hobart. We’ve seen their enthusiasm, the brightest minds, the bravest hearts matched with 21st century technology. That is how we keep Australia safe. That is our commitment.
The biggest renewal, the biggest investment in the Royal Australian Navy since the Second World War.
We live in times of enormous opportunity but also but also considerable risk. These are uncertain times. We need a strong Defence Force, a strong Navy and that is what we’re delivering and HMAS Hobart today is proof of our commitment.
SENATOR THE HON. MARISE PAYNE – MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: Thank you very much Prime Minister, I’m going to say a few words and then I’ll ask the Chief of the Defence Force to say a few words as well.
This is a very important day for Australia, for the government, for the ADF and for the Royal Australian Navy.
The commissioning of a ship is a very, very special event in any Navy’s history. And the commissioning of the first ship in a series, a fleet of air warfare destroyers of this nature is especially so.
HMAS Hobart, an air warfare destroyer, is the first of the three ships of this class and it is going to make a step change in the capability of the Royal Australian Navy.
The Prime Minister is absolutely right – the men and women who have made this possible, who are here today to take up their roles as part of the ships company of HMAS Hobart are men and women of whom I am extraordinarily proud.
They and the other members of the ADF who have made this possible have been working for a very long time. This is a process which has been in the works for 16 years to ensure that we have this fleet capability for the ADF and for the Royal Australian Navy.
I look forward very much to seeing Hobart as she goes through the operational tests and evaluation period which is about to start now. In fact, from today, I look forward to seeing what she is capable of. I look forward to seeing her work and lead and participate within the region and support the rest of our deployed forces. It is a very important and singularly important day for the ship’s company, for their families who give a great deal to ensure that the men and women who sail on Hobart, in Hobart are supported as they need to be.
I’ll ask the CDF to say a few words.
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL MARK BINSKIN AC – CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCE: Thank you Prime Minister, thanks Minister.
A proud for the Royal Australian Navy. A proud for the Australian Defence Force. A very proud day for Australia.
HMAS Hobart is a quantum leap in our maritime capabilities and I’d like to take a chance to thank all those who made it possible. From the shipbuilders to the small companies that supported the shipbuilders, for the Spanish Armada who helped us get this far, for the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence and all those who were a part of it, it is a great outcome for us.
I’m proud of the crew. I’d like to congratulate the crew. I’d have to say I’m pretty envious.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks Mark.
JOURNALIST: We know that there were construction delays and budget blowouts with this particular ship – how confident are you that the next two sister ships are on track?
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: HMAS Brisbane is 90 per cent complete and HMAS Sydney is 60 per cent complete.
The team in Adelaide is working extremely hard on bringing those into service on schedule, or to commissioning on schedule and I am very confident that with the lessons that we’ve learned from Hobart that we will meet all of those deadlines.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a lot of governing is about future proofing – how impressive is that 16 years ago a decision like this was made in the current political climate?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it shows you need to plan ahead doesn’t it? And the Howard government planned ahead, made the commitment to build these warships and we too are making the long term commitment to build the Navy that we need to keep us safe in the 21st century.
It is important to remember that in six years of Labor government, not one Australian warship was commissioned from one Australian shipyard.
It was a complete failure. An absence of mind, an absence of commitment and we’ve obviously inherited that but we’re getting on with the job.
54 warships are going to be built. We’ve already announced the plans and approved the building of 30 of them – submarines, future frigates, offshore patrol vessels and of course the pacific patrol vessels for our neighbours in the region.
It is a massive commitment to a 21st century Navy and these are long term multi-generational projects.
These are nation building projects to keep our nation safe.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister were members of your government wrong to use the head-butting incident to argue against same-sex marriage when the alleged offender said that it wasn’t anything to do with that?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I’m not going to comment on that other than to say that we must have zero tolerance for this type of violence. This was an assault in the street. It is completely unacceptable. It’s unlawful.
The person involved has been charged. He’ll be brought before the Courts and he’ll be dealt with and so he should.
We should have zero tolerance for that type of violence – any type of violence!
JOURNALIST: Were they wrong to use it to argue against same-sex marriage?
PRIME MINISTER: I’m not going to run a commentary on that. The postal survey is out there. Australians are voting. Lucy and I have cast our votes – we voted ‘yes’ and we encourage others to do so.
But, above all we respect the views of everybody – those who vote ‘no’ we respect their views as we expect them to respect the views of those who vote ‘yes’.
But what is most important is make sure you have your say. If you’ve got the postal survey and you haven’t filled it in, do so and head down to the letterbox and Luce and I did and post it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister – is Spain and Navantia in a position to get the contract of the nine ships-
PRIME MINISTER: Well I wish was that was only a $64,000 question but you know, we have a very rigorous tender process going on and we can’t, neither of us can comment on that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion has admitted remote work for the dole participants are waiting up to half a day on hold from Centrelink. What will you do to fix that unacceptable situation?
PRIME MINISTER: Nigel is tireless in his efforts to improve the delivery of services for Indigenous Australians, especially in remote areas and of course you’ve got to look at the fantastic job he’s done with the Indigenous procurement policy – hundreds of millions of dollars in just a few years are going now to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander owned businesses. It has been a really, it has exceeded expectations massively.
So we are doing a great job encouraging Indigenous enterprise because as well know economic empowerment is one of the key levers in ensuring genuine reconciliation and advancement.
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: I’m very proud to say, Prime Minister, that Defence is the leading agency in the Commonwealth in Indigenous procurement.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there you go. Well done. Great work.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I’m sure you wouldn’t want this ship to actually go to war but how possible is that with North Korea threatening to test a ‘H’ bomb in the Pacific? Are military options actually-
PRIME MINISTER: Well, warships are built to go to war. That’s what they are there for. They are there to defend us in conflict. Now we hope that they don’t need to obviously.
We pray for peace but we prepare for war. We have to keep, ensure that Australia has the Defence Force and it has the capabilities to keep us safe. And this ship is one such advanced, cutting edge, 21st century capability manned by the men and women whose courage and whose professionalism match the technology that is on board that ship.
Now in terms of the threat of conflict on the Korean Peninsula, I’ll just repeat what I’ve said before many times. The North Korean regime is a reckless, dangerous threat to the peace and stability of our region and the world.
Nobody wants to see a conflict on the Korean Peninsula. Thousands would die. It would be a catastrophe for the region and for the world.
But, we know the best way to secure a change in direction on the part of the North Korean regime, to bring this reckless regime to its senses without conflict is to continue to ratchet up the economic sanctions.
And you’ve seen the unity of purpose of the nations of the world and the UN Security Council in particular, including China, which has the greatest economic leverage imposing harsher or tighter sanctions all the time.
We have to continue doing that because that is the only alternative, peaceful way of ensuring this regime comes to its senses.
JOURNALIST: You would be very proud of what the Chinese have done in terms of collaborative spirit across the world. They can have a tendency to go one out if they want to but they’ve been particularly vocal in really leading the way to the point where they are actually surprising the US Administration.
PRIME MINISTER: Well some weeks back, not a long time although it does seem like a long time in the course of this particular crisis and debate about the crisis in the Korean Peninsula. I called for there to be restrictions on oil imports into North Korea and you can see now that the UN Security Council is imposing that. About a third of the oil that would be imported into North Korea is subject to those sanctions.
And I have to say that China is showing a real commitment to work with the rest of the global community, to bring this regime to its senses.
It is a reckless and dangerous regime that is essentially engaging in thuggery and standover tactics and trying to threaten the world into backing away from our commitment to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
So we’ll continue supporting strong economic sanctions to bring the regime to its senses without conflict.
Thank you all very much.