Doorstop in Adelaide

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: So, it’s great to be here today on the Carabiniere and I thank the Italian crew and the captain for hosting us on this vessel. This is an example of the work that Fincantieri, the Italian shipbuilder, does in Italy. This is the newest and front of the line vessel for anti-submarine warfare in the Italian and French navies. It’s called the Carabiniere, it carries about 180 crew on this visit, and it’s travelling from Italy to Australia and then to South East Asia to demonstrate what Italy is capable of doing in terms of shipbuilding and, of course, as a valuable partner in the western alliance, we’re very please, always pleased, to have our Italian friends here visiting in Adelaide. And they’ve also been to Fremantle and they go to Sydney and Melbourne and do some training with the Royal Australian Navy and then they head off to Jakarta.

As people would know, of course, we are in the midst of a tender process, a bidding process, for the nine Future Frigates that Australia will build as part of our national security. It forms part of a $195 billion build up of our defence forces, the largest build up since the Second World War, which will take us past two per cent of defence spending as a percentage of gross domestic product. The nine Future Frigates will be built here in Adelaide along with the 12 submarines. And DCNS has already won the right to build the 12 submarines, or two design the submarines, and of course Fincantieri are competing with Navantia and with BAE Systems to build the nine Future Frigates.

This will provide over 2000 jobs here in Adelaide and what I’m particularly pleased about, of course, is they are high-tech, advanced manufacturing, high-value jobs. And we can compete with anyone in the world in Australia in those kinds of jobs and in that kind of manufacturing, which will lead to a renaissance of manufacturing in Australia. And as the Defence Industry Minister, that’s one of my primary goals. Our first priority, of course, is to deliver the best capability possible for the Navy and our second priority is to do as much of that work here in Australia and I’m very please to be part of a Government that has already delivered nine Future Frigates as a decision for Adelaide, 12 submarines, and beginning the offshore patrol vessels here in South Australia. I’m happy to answer any questions.

QUESTION: How do you think this vessel’s stacks up?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, look, obviously we’re in the middle of a bid, a competitive evaluation process. The Italians will tell you this is by far and away the best vessel of the three and the British of course will say the same thing about their vessel and the Spanish about the Navantia vessel. So, it’s probably not wise of me to express any kind of preference. Every one of the three vessels has an advantage and a disadvantage. Of course, one of the advantages for Fincantieri is that this vessel’s already been built, it’s already in operation. I guess that one of the disadvantages is that Fincantieri doesn’t already operate here. So, that’s … they all have an advantage and a disadvantage and that’s why I don’t make the technical decisions about what the best ship is. That will be a decision that the Navy will advise us on in Government and we will choose, hopefully this year- in fact, definitely this year, who our preferred bidder will be.

QUESTION: So, Minister, this is … this visit’s a charm offensive and you’ve obviously been caught up in that …

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: [Interrupts] Well, I’m hard to charm, Mark, although you’ve been trying for years of course. [Laughs].

QUESTION: I know that. But is it, in all seriousness, a visit here pays dividends for whoever wants to come and show off their vessel?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I’m thinking that now that the Italians have visited here, I’m sure the Spanish and the British will follow. In fact, I’m aware that the Spanish have already made plans to come and bring an air warfare destroyer here from Spain, and the British will also bring a vessel too. And that’s perfectly understandable in the competitive evaluation process to, as you say, charm the Australian Government and the Australian public about the capacity of this vessel. And what I’ve seen on my tour this morning is that this is a multifaceted weaponry system. This ship can do many different things to defend, in this case, Italy but also to defend Australia should it be chosen.

QUESTION: So, it’s the commitment that if the Spanish were to- sorry, the Italians were to win, or anyone else, it would be – Spanish, Italians, British – that it’s going to- all the work would be done in South Australia or Australia?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, the vast majority of the work will be done in South Australia and Australia. There are probably some of the technical aspects that will be built overseas in terms of some of the high-end work that we don’t do here, the combat- the weaponry, of course, will be United States weaponry and that’ll then be integrated into the winning vessel. But it’s our expectation that the vast majority of work will be done here in Adelaide but there are many Australian companies in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, et cetera, which will also get a share. This is a $35 billion project. It’s a massive project. The only one that’s bigger is the submarine project, which is 50 billion, and both of them are being done here in Adelaide.

But, of course, that lifts all the boats, if you pardon the pun, because many different companies around Australia will share in the building of both the frigates and the submarines, providing here in Adelaide upwards of 5000 new jobs but around Australia will be a real shot in the arm to manufacturing.

QUESTION: Does this Italian company have any track record of building ships in other countries; setting up their manufacturing process in another country?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Yes. Fincantieri probably can answer that question better for you but they are already building vessels right now in the United States for example, they have a busy and large shipyard in the United States building vessels for that navy.

QUESTION: Just on another issue, is your party at war over same sex marriage?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: [Laughs] Certainly not, no.

QUESTION: So, if the plebiscite appears to be dead and buried, what are you going to do to advance the cause?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, there was a plebiscite legislation that was put last year to give the Australian public a say on marriage equality, that was defeated by the Senate. So, the Labor Party stood in the way of giving people a vote. This Saturday coming up, we could’ve been having a vote on marriage equality in Australia and if that vote had been a yes vote for marriage equality, which I anticipate it would’ve been, we could’ve had marriage equality in Australia within a matter of weeks in legislation to pass through the Parliament.

QUESTION: But that’s now past history. What are you going to do? Surely you can’t go to another election with this issue still hanging?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, the Labor Party have stopped marriage equality at this point. There is no Coalition bill before the Parliament to address marriage equality at this stage and whether there is down the track will be a matter for the Government and for my colleagues, but right now we don’t have an option for marriage equality because of Labor’s actions in the Senate.

QUESTION: So this issue could go on forever?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, right now there isn’t a bill before the Parliament from the Coalition to deal with marriage equality. We had one, the plebiscite legislation, that was defeated by the Labor Party in the Senate.

QUESTION: So it’s all their fault?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, it is actually Bill Shorten’s fault. We wanted to give the Australian public a chance to have marriage equality through a plebiscite and legislation that we would then pass through the Parliament. Bill Shorten stopped that happening. So, the person who has stopped marriage equality in Australia ironically is Bill Shorten who says that he’s in favour of it. And right now there is no other bill before the Parliament that we would be able to deal with.

QUESTION: Will you support the Liberals in the party room who are reportedly pushing for a free vote?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I’m in favour of marriage equality but as I’ve said, there is no bill right now before the Parliament from the Coalition to deal with the issue. We dealt with the plebiscite legislation last year and Labor has stood in its way.

QUESTION: But why not allow a free vote in Parliament?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, what happens down the track is a matter for the Prime Minister, for the Cabinet, for the party room, but we had dealt with this matter at the end of last year and unfortunately Labor has stopped it from happening. But I … there is no bill right now before the Parliament from the Coalition that could deal with it.

QUESTION: Should Tony Abbott be so public about his opinions, do you think?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, Tony Abbott is a backbencher in the Coalition. We don’t run a Stalinist party in the Liberal Party. We welcome backbenchers’ views and he’s allowed to put his view, which is entirely consistent with what he’s- well should be consistent with what he’s said in the past and what the Government’s position is.

QUESTION: Just back on the ship, I just wondered, Martin Hamilton-Smith was going to be here. Should’ve he gotten an invite, is that good to be working with state counterparts?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I’m the Defence Industry Minister and I’m working very hard for South Australia and Australia’s interests. We have $195 billion defence build up, including $90 billion on naval shipbuilding. Happily the Government’s made the decision that Osborne will be the centre of major platform and submarine vessels, and Henderson will build the smaller vessels. So, we have a very clear way forward, for the first time in Australia’s history we have a continuous naval ship build, when I want to speak to the South Australian Government, I talk to the Premier and the Treasurer.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Last question guys.

QUESTION: The US Defense Secretary has apparently said that China is shedding trust in the region. Do you share that assessment?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I am … I welcome Secretary Mattis to the role of Defense Secretary in the United States. He has a very pro-Australian record. In fact, the brigade that he headed up in Iraq and Afghanistan has as its theme song Waltzing Matilda and its flag is the Southern Cross because they were stationed here in the Second World War and fell in love with Australia, that particular marine grouping. And I’m very much looking forward to speaking to him about a number of matters, including the Joint Strike Fighter, in the weeks ahead. I won’t comment on particularly what he said about the Chinese posture in the South China Sea. I’ll leave that up to the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

QUESTION: Do you think he’ll be a voice of moderation in the Trump Administration?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, he certainly has a record of sensible, calm, methodical approach to every job that he’s done in the military and I expect that he’ll bring that same approach to the role of Secretary of Defense.

QUESTION: Can I just quickly ask what you think about Pauline Hanson’s outline for the country if she was to be the leader?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Leader of what?

QUESTION: The country.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: [Laughs] I think it’s unlikely that One Nation’s going to form a government in Australia.