Press Conference - Darwin City, NT
18 February 2022
PRIME MINISTER: Well, good afternoon, everyone. It's a great thrill to be back here at HMAS Larrakeyah. And I want to thank all of those who are serving, not only here on the base, but out at sea on our behalf. I thank them all for their service and they've been doing that over so many years. It was really interesting to get back on Ararat. This was a a missile that has played an important role, particularly in our border protection operations. But I couldn't be more pleased that they're doing more than just that now. I mean, back when I was Immigration and Border Protection Minister, and because of the border failings that we inherited, they were spending all their time out there, only focused on those issues. And now they're able to get back and be doing all the other many important things that they do as part of our Defence Forces and our border protection operations.
I'm here today because we're announcing $282 million, $282 million of further investment here in the Northern Territory, and particularly here in Darwin, in two major streams of work. The first one is $160 million in capability improvements through 34 specific projects, which will see hundreds of jobs, sorry 70 jobs created specifically in supporting those projects.
In addition to that, there's $122 million in in maintenance and service servicing roles and and jobs that are being done here in Darwin, establishing this as a service base that will support around 200 tradies working in contractors and suppliers around the Territory, and particularly coming here out of Darwin.
We've got $8 billion worth of investment in the Northern Territory. This is the northern approach to Australia, and it's very important that we invest in the capability here in our north and that's what our Government has done - in season and out. It's been one of the most important areas of our lift in investment in our Defence Forces as we've taken our Defence Force investment from the lowest level that we inherited when we came to government that we had seen since before the Second World War, to now over more than two per cent of the size of our economy, and it continues to grow.
So I want to thank all of our servicemen and women. But I also want to thank the many civil contractors and others who are here putting these investments in place. As you came in today, you would have seen the significant works that are being done on the rebuilding of the wharfs and putting those in, and the many other things that are happening on this base. This is an incredibly important base for Australia and we've been investing in it heavily. Our defence industry, our defence capability development is helping drive the Northern Territory economy, and particularly drive the Darwin economy, and establishing the regional service base here with that increased investment will see those jobs continue here in the north. But, importantly, see the servicing and capability that our Defence Forces need continue to strengthen here in the north.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you still have confidence in Alan Tudge as your Education Minister? Will you return him to your Cabinet before the election?
PRIME MINISTER: Alan Tudge has done a fine job as Education Minister, but the matter that is being raised, a very serious one, which I've taken incredibly seriously. That matter is still in process, with the independent report and the further work that is done to advise me by my Department.
JOURNALIST: You've had that report for some time now. Does it have any adverse findings against Minister Tudge?
PRIME MINISTER: That matter is in process, and before that matter of process is being completed it would be unfair to everyone involved to be offering any further comment.
JOURNALIST: Will Minister Tudge and Rachelle Miller be informed of the findings of the report?
PRIME MINISTER: Again, once the process is complete, I'll be able to confirm all of those matters.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Royal Darwin Hospital is in code yellow. Health authorities are calling for a code brown. Has the Federal Government done enough to support the NT health system? And what more will be done if you retain power?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I can tell you that at the last election, we were investing $285 million a year in the Northern Territory health system. That figure today, this year, is $356.7. By the end of the next term of Government, on the Budget we have, that figure will be $477 million. So over the next three years, our Budget for health in the Northern Territory is growing on average by around $30 million every single year, and it's grown by almost $100 million since the last election. And so we're continuing to invest in the hospital system, in the health system here in the Northern Territory.
Now, on top of that, there is the 50-50 funding arrangement we have with the Northern Territory Government, as we have with all the states and territories, to support them in the specific COVID health responses, which includes additional costs that are in their hospitals. On top of that, there was some $260 million when I was Treasurer that we pumped in in additional GST on top of, additional revenue on top of the GST to address the real service needs here in the Northern Territory. So my Government and my role as Treasurer and Prime Minister has been investing tens of millions every year extra into the hospital system and to support the needs of the Northern Territory Government to run that system and ensure that they're well-prepared, as they do with the many health issues that we face here in the Territory.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about where that money's going given that we're now in our fourth or fifth code yellow in the past year alone?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think these are accountabilities clearly for the Northern Territory Government and we seek to monitor their performance. But no doubt they that will be very frustrating to people in the Northern Territory. But what I can tell you is every year we're increasing our funding by around about $30 million every single year, and we have that funding increase going on over the next three years under the current Budget. And we'll be updating that, of course, in the Budget that comes out at the end of March. But we have been supporting Territorians with increased health funding every single year.
JOURNALIST: In light of what you've said about the Labor Party earlier today, do you believe Mr Albanese himself is anti-Semitic?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I didn't say anyone was anti-Semitic this morning. What I said was, and I go back to what Tanya Plibersek herself said in the Parliament, where she accused Israel of being a rogue state, and said Ariel Sharon, Ariel Sharon was a war criminal. Senator Sue Lines just this last week accused Israel of what she said was the crime of apartheid. Now, the thing about Mr Albanese is he comes from the far left of the Labor Party. And that's where these views are held in the Labor Party. I mean, I've just cited two of them. I mean, he's not known for being from the right wing of the Labor Party. I can assure you that, and the people in the right wing of the Labor Party would be the first to tell you that. He has been a champion of the left wing of the Labor Party his entire political career. And that's where we have seen those views. They're also, you know, informed by the Greens as well. And we've seen their views on these issues, and a Labor Party with the Greens, particularly a Labor Party led by the most left wing Labor leader since Gough Whitlam, well, you know, these are, these are relevant facts as we go into an election. People have to make a choice between the most left wing leader of the Labor Party to be Prime Minister or a Prime Minister who's protected our borders, increased our defence funding, increased our intelligence agency funding, established the Australian Border Force and has ensured that Australia is more prepared today than any time we have seen in the last decade.
JOURNALIST: Have you seen the Defence Department's review of the Port of Darwin? Do you know if that review takes into consideration the view of our strategic allies and [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, again, these are classified matters, and that's a matter that's still in process, as the Defence Minister has already made very clear, and the the issues that are relevant to that, if there are recommendations and certainly advice that we receive from the Defence Department and that requires further action, then I I will not hesitate. I will not hesitate. Just this past week, we passed through the House of Representatives the Critical Infrastructure Bill. Now that follows, and I look forward to that being passed in the Senate in Budget week. Prior to that, there was earlier critical infrastructure legislation that we brought in. When you combine those two that has enabled us as a Government to put further duties on the lessees of that Port to ensure that we can monitor very closely all of their operations and make sure they are fully compliant. When when the lease was given all those years ago by the previous Territory Government, there was no authorisation given by the Federal Government, ever. I know others push that around. That is just simply false. There was no authority for the Federal Government to reject, approve anything in relation to the leasing of of that asset. And, as a result, what I did as Treasurer is I went round all the states and territories and got their agreement to change the law so no state or territory could ever lease such an asset like that again. That was the problem I had to fix and I fixed it, and we put legislation in place to make sure we kept a hawk eye on what was going on in that, in that Port.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can you, can you confirm that this money announced here today is all new money, because it does sound similar to an announcement made last year? And, also, secondly on Ukraine, do you believe, like Peter Dutton, that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is a fait accompli?
PRIME MINISTER: On the first matter, no it all comes out of the integrated investment plan for the, for the Defence Forces, and this is now all committed funds to clear projects attached to those. We're talking about 34 individual projects that will now take place as a result of that investment, as well as the establishment of of the services hub, services centre here in Darwin.
On the issue of the Ukraine, this remains a very volatile situation. We are very aware of the intent of the Russian Forces, where they are at on Ukraine's border. We have seen the reports of the cyber-attacks that have been occurring in Ukraine, and we have seen the attempts to create to create pretext for invasion in Ukraine. I had the opportunity to discuss these issues with Prime Minister Johnson just this week and that enabled me to get a further understanding as to how they're seeing the situation. And he's in, he's engaged with leaders across Europe and how they're approaching this issue.
I still remain very much of the view that it's important for all nations to denounce the threats of terrible violence that Russia is making against Ukraine. Now we denounce it, the United States denounce it, you know peace-loving free nations all around the world are denouncing it, and I say again, those who do not denounce the violence that Russia is threatening Ukraine with, well, that leaves me very concerned. And the Chinese Government is yet to denounce those threats of violence, and I I urge them to do so. They seek to play, they say, a positive role in global peace. Well, they could immediately denounce the threats of violence that are taking place on behalf of Russia.
Now to the point of your question, yes, it remains a highly volatile situation. An invasion of Ukraine is, of course, imminent, and and I hope that does not occur. But I think what we are seeing leads us to fear the worst.
JOURNALIST: If re-elected, would you bring [inaudible] Port of Darwin to Australian ownership?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's a lease, one. But, secondly, I've always said that if we receive advice from our defence and intelligence agencies that that is what is necessary to do to protect Australia's national interest, I will not hesitate. I would not hesitate to do that. But that is not something that has been advised. I recall at the, not with, at the Government's direction, but I think it's to do, the Defence Secretary Dennis Richardson at the time who was the one who made some comments about the Port of Darwin and and its lease. They were not the the views of the Australian Government at that time. As I said, the Australian Government did not authorise it, did not approve it, did not have the power to approve it. And what we have done after the previous Territory Government entered into that lease, what we've done is to tighten the laws to ensure that the Federal Government would have such authority in the future, and passed critical infrastructure legislation, which means that we can keep a close eye on it and protect the national interest, as we have done. Thanks everyone.
