Doorstop Interview, Talisman Sabre, QLD

SUBJECTS: Talisman Sabre 2025; Australia-US relationship; AUKUS; Queensland’s role in Talisman Sabre; Ukraine; Australia-China relationship

ACTING PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Well, welcome everyone to Talisman Sabre 25, it's great to be here with Vice Admiral Justin Jones, who is the Chief of Joint Operations. And we are here today in the early days of the operational phase of Talisman Sabre 25, and this is the 11th iteration of Talisman Sabre, and it is the largest iteration of Talisman Sabre. 35,000 personnel are participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre 25- the largest number ever. 19 countries are involved in this, again, the largest participation that we have seen by nations in Exercise Talisman Sabre, and it is an example or a manifestation of the fact that we are a partner of choice in terms of exercises for countries around the world. And it is also the largest Talisman Sabre in terms of the geography which is being used in relation to Talisman Sabre 25- it is a really important exercise. What you are seeing and what you are witnessing is the most important event that we do every two years to rehearse the activities of the Australian Defence Force, but also, in many respects, to certify a whole lot of skills and capabilities within the Australian Defence Force. So in that sense, it is critical in terms of the ADF’s operations to maintain our currency and our abilities and our capabilities. And this is obviously the largest exercise that the Australian Defence Force participates in on a two yearly basis. It is a fundamentally a bilateral exercise with the United States. We plan this jointly with the United States, and that's been the case since the very first Talisman Sabre. In that sense, it is really important in terms of building our interoperability with our most important partner. But in terms of the other 17 countries that are participating, it's a really important exercise in terms of building our relationships with them. This would represent one of the largest, if not the largest exercise that occurs in the southern hemisphere. It is really one of the most complex military exercises which occurs anywhere in the world. A real feature of Talisman Sabre is the level of complexity which is brought to bear in terms of the exercise. But I think what's also really important to understand is that what we are doing is demonstrating our innate capabilities as the Australian Defence Force, we are demonstrating what we can do across vast areas, in combination with the United States and our other partner countries. And so in that sense, on its own terms, what Talisman Sabre does is represent a deterrent, and it makes a contribution to the peace and security of the region in which we live. It is a really important exercise. I want to thank all those who have been involved in it- of course, all the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, they have put in months and months of effort to be able to do what they're doing over the course of these few weeks. I'd also like to thank all the men and women serving in our partner countries who are participating in this. I really want to thank members of the Australian community, particularly here in Queensland, but in other parts of Australia where Talisman Sabre is happening, for hosting Talisman Sabre. A lot of what you see is occurring within Defence training grounds, but not all of it- some of what's going on here is actually taking place in and around places where people live, such as Bowen, and in that sense, we're very reliant on local communities in terms of the way in which they host Talisman Sabre. And we are very grateful to local councils and to the local populations for the way in which they have hosted Talisman Sabre, and more than that, the way they have embraced it. This is a really important exercise, as I say, it represents the culmination of an enormous amount of work from a huge number of people, and as a government, we are deeply appreciative for all the efforts that have been brought to bear in terms of making this happen. I might just take questions on Talisman Sabre and if there are others about questions of the day, which I'm happy to take after. 

JOURNALIST: At the end of the day, is this to prepare us so we could be ready within short notice, and our partners would be ready with us?

MARLES: Well, I mean, it is really important that you have a Defence force which is capable right now. And in large- in so many ways, what we do as a Defence force is to train and to make sure that we are ready and that we are prepared. So we just walk through this hospital as an example, going through the exercise of unpack, of transporting it, of unpacking it, of setting it up, of being able to operate within it, make sure that we know we can work with it. It actually certifies the way in which people are operating. And this is an example of a whole range of activities that occur right across the spectrum of what our Defence force does. This is a demonstration of the fact that our Defence force is ready and capable to operate right now. 

JOURNALIST: Have we had any, any evidence of surveillance from, say, the Chinese military, or anyone who's not part of this?

MARLES: Look, we haven't, but we've seen that in iterations of Talisman Sabre in the past. You know, we are ready if that does occur and if it does, it is very much business as usual. But in terms of Talisman Sabre 25 that's not occurred yet.

JOURNALIST: I've got a question for my New Zealand counterparts. They've said New Zealand's considering joining AUKUS. How important is it to have them here? And is there any update on them joining pillar two?

MARLES: Well, in terms of the New Zealand participating in Talisman Sabre: critical. And we are really excited about the presence of New Zealand here, and we're really pleased with the way in which our two defence forces are working very closely together. We talk about wanting to make us more Anzac, to see that we are doing more together, more embeds occurring across our two defence forces, building our capability, looking at ways in which we can work together, for example, in terms of procurement. So the participation of the New Zealand Defence Force in Talisman Sabre is fundamentally critical. In terms of AUKUS, we have said that in the non-submarine component of AUKUS, AUKUS Pillar II, we are going through a consultative process on a case-by-case or project-by-project basis, to see what might be fit to involve other countries at points in time, in the future, that consultation is happening. But it's not more progressed than that.

JOURNALIST: For the first time, we're expanding into Papua New Guinea. Is that a signal to the Asia Pacific region that Papua New Guinea is a key ally, and some of the nations like Fiji and Tonga may be pushing back some foreign interference from elsewhere?

MARLES: Well, thank you for that question, because I should have said at the outset that we are breaking new ground in terms of Talisman Sabre 25 because for the first time, Talisman Sabre is now going to be operating offshore in Papua New Guinea, and it is a really important step forward in terms of the way in which Talisman Sabre is operating. And I think you're right that it is a very significant step forward in terms of our relationship with the PNGDF. Again, that is a relationship that we are very excited about. We are negotiating right now Defence cooperation arrangements with Papua New Guinea, which builds on the Status of Forces Agreement that dates back to the 1970s that we have with Papua New Guinea, and we are seeing much greater activity between our two countries. I mean PNG- we do, exercises in PNG, separate to Talisman Sabre and PNG have engaged in exercises in Australia, separate to Talisman Sabre, but I think the extension of Talisman Sabre into PNG is a really important feature of this year's Talisman Sabre and we look forward to it being a part of Talisman Sabres in the future. 

JOURNALIST: HIMARS were just fired for the first time yesterday publicly- it only has a range of 500 kilometres or so. Is that a shift in- is there a shift in thinking that we're seriously thinking about having to protect the Australian homeland from within a range of 500 kilometres? 

MARLES: Well, what it's about is making sure that we are building more mobile fire capability, firstly, but secondly, longer range. And we have talked from the Defence Strategic Review onwards about the need to have a Defence force which can project. If you think about the way in which this Talisman Sabre is operating, a lot of it is conceived in terms of moving an army around. So having a much more mobile, amphibious army is part of that. Obviously, having a more capable surface fleet is part of that. Having a long range submarine capability is part of that. But a critical part of that is having a longer range missile capability and a more mobile missile capability. And that's really what HIMARS represents, and that's why the firing of HIMARS yesterday, I think was such a very significant step

forward. 

JOURNALIST: Yeah, and can we talk a little bit more about the field hospital? So what does the deployment of multinational field hospital at Talisman Sabre say about Queensland's role in major Defence operations?

MARLES: Well, Queensland is profoundly important for the Australian Defence Force. I mean so much of the footprint of the Australian Defence Force is here in Queensland. And we see that with two infantry brigades being based in Queensland. We see that with Amberley, we see it with HMAS Cairns, so across all the services. But you're right in focusing on the mobile hospital, what you are seeing over there and behind me, when it's all packed up lives at Gallipoli barracks in Brisbane. And a lot of the staff that we've been talking to are drawn from around the country, but a lot are drawn from Queensland. Queensland is a critically important state in terms of hosting the Australian Defence Force and supporting the Australian Defence Force, and that's not just those who wear our uniform, but it really does extend the population of Queensland. What I said earlier about how grateful we are for communities in hosting Talisman Sabre, I mean, that is a comment that is particularly pertinent to communities here in Queensland, and we are genuinely grateful- and that matters in a contingency, civil resilience and preparedness deeply matters in terms of being the basis upon which we can build our defence force capability, and the people of Queensland play an incredible role in respect of that. 

JOURNALIST: Just on non-defensy ones- sorry, defensive, but not quite Talisman Sabre. What's your reaction to the news out of the White House overnight, the suggestion that the US administration place secondary tariffs on countries trading with Russia, and the decision from the US to start rearming Ukraine? 

MARLES: Well, look, obviously, this is a matter for the United States, and so I won't directly comment on that, other than to just make our position clear, which is that from the very outset, we have supported Ukraine in its resistance against the unlawful and immoral invasion by Russia of its territory. This has been a long, protracted conflict, and we have repeatedly said that we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes for Ukraine to ultimately be able to resolve this conflict on its terms. Now, a few weeks ago, I was representing Australia at The Hague, at the meeting of NATO, and it is very much a matter which is felt across NATO, but across the world, that it is really important in terms of the maintenance of the global wars based order that Ukraine is able to resolve this on its terms. And we will continue to support Ukraine in that effort. We've been most recently doing that through the contribution of Abram's tanks. But that's just a part of an ongoing contribution that we've made, and we will continue to make contributions to the effort in support of Ukraine from here on. 

JOURNALIST: Is it just a coincidence the Prime Minister is in China while this is happening?

MARLES: They are two very separate things. I mean, the Prime Minister has had a long planned visit to China. It's his second visit there since he's become the Prime Minister. It is part of the annual or part of the leader talks between our two nations. That's obviously really important in terms of what is a very complex relationship, but a very important relationship for Australia, and that is critical on its own terms. As I've just described, this exercise is critical in its own terms, and really the two matters are totally separate. 

ENDS