Doorstop with Premier NSW

Doorstop with the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP, Premier of New South Wales,

Senator the Hon. Marise Payne, Minister for Defence and the Hon. Christopher Pyne MP,

Minister for Defence Industry.

SUBJECTS: Western Sydney Airport; Federal Budget; Cyber Security; North Korea

E&OE…

Marise Payne, Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Paul Fletcher and the Assistant Minister for Cities, Angus Taylor, the Vice President of Northrop Grumman, Dave Perry - who will speak to us in a moment - and the Australian CEO, Ian Irving, to announce Northrop Grumman’s decision to establish a $50 million electronic sustainment centre of excellence at the new Western Sydney Airport. Northrop Grumman will be an anchor tenant.

Now this is a very key element in our defence industry plan. It’s a key part of our plan for Western Sydney, Premier, which we are both passionately committed. Because what we have been in Australia, we have been a big customer for defence capabilities. But we have not built enough defence material here in Australia. We have not been a big enough part of global supply chains and we are changing that. Our defence industry plan is a plan to expand the capabilities of the Australian Defence Force but also to build a sovereign defence industry capability here in Australia, across all theatres; land, sea, air and cyberspace. All of the above are part of our plan to secure Australia's future.

Now, we are building a new airport at Western Sydney, at Badgerys Creek. That is going to ensure that there will be a centre of employment and industry and technology, creating thousands of jobs in Western Sydney. It’s going to be working closely with the universities of course, particularly the University of Western Sydney. Northrop Grumman has committed to double its workforce in Australia, up to a thousand and beyond, and the centre for excellence is a key part of that. It’s great to see here, some of Northrop Grumman’s partners, John Bale from Soldier On is here. Dave Perry has described to me, and he will say a little more, about Northrop Grumman's commitment to employing veterans. They have a great many veterans, including Dave himself of course in the Northrop Grumman team. And John Bale from Soldier On is partnered with the government in our Veterans Employment Initiative and it’s ensuring our veterans make successful transitions to life in the private sector and civilian sector after they leave the ADF.

It’s also great to be joined by two important partners in the Northrop Grumman supply chain, Australian partners. Quickstep, which is a maker of advance composites, its CEO, Mark Burgess is here. It is part of the whole Joint Strike Fighter program right around the world, it is making advance composite materials for aerospace, automotive and part of the joint strike fighter, that extraordinary global project of which we are increasingly playing a critical role. Steve Renkert is also here from Electrotech, another Australian company which is a communications and navigations system company, again, a very important part of Northrop Grumman's supply chain and an example of how our commitment to the defence industry investment builds the growth, the jobs, employment in advance manufacturing and technology, here in Australia.

Now, this new centre for excellence will be in a prime position to service and maintain aircraft and systems, including for the Joint Strike Fighter the F35 and the MQ-4C Triton, another critically important airplane Australia is acquiring, and the United States Defence Forces, including the US Navy and other allies around the world. This is going to add our involvement in the Joint Strike Fighter program alone in sustainment and maintenance. It will add by 2023, it has been estimated, another 5,000 new jobs and a billion dollars to GDP each year.

So this is a vital part of our national economic plan, as is Western Sydney Airport. It is going to return, it is estimated, $1. 80 for every dollar of government investment we put in. It is going to secure Australia's aviation capacity for the future and transform the economy of Western Sydney, creating 20,000 new jobs by the early 2030s, building up to 60,000 in the long term.

The Premier and I understand, clearly, our governments are committed to ensuring that we build for the future. There will be an additional population the size of Adelaide moving into Western Sydney in the decades to come and we need to ensure there are the jobs, the infrastructure to support that population and we need to ensure we have the great technologically advanced jobs and industries that build that ecosystem around the airport that will attract more investment, more opportunities for Australians to work in Western Sydney as it becomes the heart, the centre of Sydney, in the years to come.

So thank you all very much for being here and Premier, over to you.

THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NEW SOUTH WALES:

Thanks very much, Prime Minister and welcome everybody.

I am so thrilled with today's announcement. It means jobs, jobs and more jobs for Western Sydney and it also means New South Wales will have the capacity to be a regional centre for what is a fast-growing and much necessary technology. But what today's announcement also does is demonstrate the confidence that people have in our government's ability, not only to deliver the Sydney Airport but also to support all the industries that will go towards really developing this precinct and also attracting the jobs that we know will allow the community to grow and prosper into the future.

I am just so excited because I knew and appreciated that the Sydney Airport, the second Sydney airport and its construction would attract a lot of interest. But to have such a phenomenal announcement so early, really demonstrates confidence in our process, and also demonstrates confidence in the jobs that will be created and also the technologies that will be developed not far from this precinct. It is a really exciting opportunity for all of us in New South Wales, but especially for Western Sydney residents.

Not only will people have the opportunity to get employment in key industries right on their doorstep but I am absolutely convinced so many others will be attracted to Western Sydney as a result as well. This is really for us an exciting opportunity to see suppliers and other industries come to this precinct.

This is the start of something really great. It is a start of something very positive and to have today's $50 million investment announced so soon in the process allows us to continue to plan, continue to talk to organisations that we know in the future will be champing at the bit to come and join this wonderful precinct.

Now I want to thank the Federal Government, the Prime Minister and everybody else for being involved and facilitating today’s opportunity. I know the Minister for Western Sydney has also been in dialogue with Northrop Grumman before as well in order to attract this investment and we are absolutely delighted that this the start of something extremely positive. It is jobs, jobs and more jobs for New South Wales.

PRIME MINISTER:

Very good, thank you. Dave?

DAVID PERRY, CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF GLOBAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION:

Thank you, Prime Minister. It is very exciting for me to be here with you today. I want to acknowledge, first of all, Premier, thank you for being with us to help get this started. Prime Minister, we really appreciate your presence here.

This is a reflection of the commitment that our company Northrop Grumman has, we are determined to make sure our partnership with Australian industry and with the Australian government is fully representative of the 100 years of partnership we have had. I think it is reflected well last week in New York when we celebrated the heroism and valour from the Battle of Coral Sea, where Americans and Australians fought together to preserve security in the Pacific.

This program will create capability that will create an ecosystem of the most advanced technology that will exist in the Pacific and become the backbone of security for the most advanced aircraft systems in the world. For more than 20 year Northrop Grumman has partnered with the Commonwealth to advance Australia's national security and to contribute to regional security and stability. With today's announcement, we are proud to build upon this relationship and further advance Australia’s industrial capabilities with the injection of Northrop Grumman technology, coupled with further development of a strong local Australian workforce.

As Australia procures advanced defence systems, including autonomous and next generation aircrafts, advanced networking communications and command and control capabilities, electronics systems will be fundamental to the success of each system. Facilities such as this brand new centre of excellence will be critical to the local sustainment of those advanced systems throughout their lifetime and will ensure the security and stability of the most advanced systems in the world. This centre will help the development of ADF platforms and systems by lowering the turnaround time and the repair costs for mission-critical equipment by doing the work here in Australia, with, as I said before, a local Australian workforce.

This workforce will not just be Northrop Grumman's, but it will be consistent with high-tech Australian companies. It will enable the security of not only Australia but for all our allies including the United States as we operate these advanced platforms in the Pacific. As one of the largest global manufacturers of defence mission complex systems, and a provider of CSR cyberstrike autonomous systems and logistic solutions, Northrop Grumman's is deeply committed, and always will be, to Australia. Through investment in Australia, we have grown our local work force by 500 in the last 5 years and we see that trend continuing. Our strong commitment to Australia has also been underscored by investment in companies including CEA Technologies and (inaudible) as well as the establishment of local capabilities in Northrop Grumman's itself.

We have partnered with companies such as Electrotech, as mentioned already and we have helped them grow their footprint in (inauble) and also Quickstep, who we have supported and mentored on the Joint Strike Fighter program. Your local Australian Quickstep company produces 26,000 parts for this program. Just fantastic output. That’s the kind of ecosystem we want to engender and create and grow over the next decade. I am delighted that representatives from both companies are here celebrating with us today. So Steven Ranker and Mark Burgess, we really appreciate you not only being here and the partnership it represents, we have been trusted partners in business for many, many years and we could not do it without them, so thank you very much. The establishment of this New Electronic Sustainment Centre of Excellence prevails upon these exciting investments and is the next step in our vision to build a world-class capability unlike anything else in the Pacific.

We are also helping to develop the next generation of Australian leaders through our support of local STEM education programs and providing grants in support of science and engineering programs and the establishment of local universal scholarships for both regional and disadvantaged students.

Northrop Grumman is passionate about working with and providing opportunities for Indigenous Australians. Last year, we sponsored Indigenous high school students from Playford and Salisbury in South Australia to attend (inaudible) camp in the United States, studying science, technology engineering and mathematics. We are delighted to be in discussion with Indigenous ICT services on how we can work together and bring more Indigenous companies into our supply chain.

We are also proud to support our returned servicemen and women and we are honoured to be a major sponsor of Australia Veterans, Soldier On. We are a founding sponsor of Hands Up, a program mentioned by the Prime Minister and we are also very proud to be a partner with their CEO of Soldier On, Mr John Bale. John thank you for your partnership and guidance along the way to help us be a good partner here in Australia.

We are excited to continue to extend or partnership with Australia and to contribute to the development of Australia’s future advance manufacturing economy through the establishment of the brand new electronic sustainment centre of excellence right here in Western Sydney. Western Sydney is Australia’s premier light industrial region and Northrop Grumman is excited to become an anchor tenant as part of the development of the new Badgerys Creek Airport project.

This is going to be an exciting time and the next decades will represent significant capability growth in Australia. The capability growth associated with the maintenance sustainment and development of advanced electronics requires an environment supported by first-grade secondary schools and universities. We are looking forward to partnering not only with your universities to create an R&D system to feed this and make it the best in the world. We thank you for your time and we look forward to success with you in Australia.

PRIME MINISTER:

Great, thank you. Well done. Thank you, appreciate it. So, we can take some questions?

JOURNALIST:

Prime Minister, is the ramping up of the defence industry hub around Badgerys Creek part of a plan to shut down Richmond?

PRIME MINISTER:

No, certainly not. Can I ask the Defence Minister to say something about Richmond but the commitment to western Sydney airport is a commitment to a whole-industry technological business environment that will enable us to ensure that there are tens of thousands - as you just heard, 60,000 in the long term - additional jobs in western Sydney.

JOURNALIST:

Why will you need Richmond if you have a 24-hour airport very close by?

PRIME MINISTER:

Perhaps Marise Payne, do you want to say something about Richmond?

DEFENCE MINISTER:

Thank you. I made the Government's views on Richmond clear last year. The Government has no intention to dispose of the air base. The Government is going to maintain a military base here, it is an important airport point. We have no intention to close it.

JOURNALIST:

The review recommended selling part of the defence estate. Wouldn't selling off Richmond help housing affordability?

DEFENCE MINISTER:

You would have seen our announcement, in defence sites, Maribrynong in Melbourne. We examine each piece of the estates, one by one. There are over 400 in Australia and they change and are dynamic but the position in respect to Richmond is clear. Thank you very much.

JOURNALIST:

[Inaudible]

PRIME MINISTER:

You have asked about the ransomware threat. I can say that at the present time, we have seen several impacts in respect to small businesses. At this stage, the answer to your question is no, but it is early stages. I am staying in constant contact with my cybersecurity advisor, Alastair MacGibbon, who I know you have seen in the media. But at this stage, we haven't seen the impact that they have seen in the United Kingdom, for example. But it is important that businesses or enterprises make sure that those patches for the Windows systems that were made available by Microsoft in March have been installed, if they haven't been already and they obviously should have been.

JOURNALIST:

You spent time in western Sydney on a budget road show, are you looking for a delayed post budget Newspoll?

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you for your cheeky question. Our commitment is in Western Sydney and indeed, in all the other parts of Australia I will visit this week, is to continue to develop growth for Australians to get ahead. Everything we are doing is focused on that. It is a very fair Budget and a very pro-growth Budget. It is delivering the investment, whether it is infrastructure in Western Sydney or the defence industry plan or the Inland Rail, right across the board, this Budget is ensuring the future of our children and grandchildren. We are guaranteeing Medicare, we are ensuring that school spending is needs-based, transparent and consistent across the country. We are ensuring that the National Disability Insurance Scheme is fully funded.

I do say to Mr Shorten, who I know is trying to play politics with this, he was reasonably statesmanlike a few years ago when he said we should increase the Medicare levy to fund part of the NDIS. Now we have got the opportunity to fund all of it. Surely the least we can do is to say to parents of disabled children: “The money is there, the funding is there, the support for your child, and indeed, the support for any Australian who finds themselves suffering from disabilities.” That way, the funding is there, we have secured it. This is a great historic opportunity to do that. We call on him to capture the statesman-like qualities he showed some years ago and once again support funding the NDIS, but this time getting it right and funding it completely.

JOURNALIST:

[Inaudible]

PRIME MINISTER:

My focus is ensuring delivery of the great outcomes from the Budget. Polls are not news. There are lots of polls. The focus is on delivering on the great commitments we have made to infrastructure, $5 billion for the Western Sydney airport alone. But these are the commitments of a fair Budget that is investing for the future. I mentioned some of had the things we are doing in the Budget a moment ago. Let me add another point which is equally important; we are living within our means. This is a very realistic Budget. This is one that will bring the Budget back into balance, in fact, into surplus, in 2020/21. So that means there won't be a mountain of debt thrown on to the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. We will be bringing that down, debt will start coming down and that is because we have made the necessary, responsible economic decisions to live within our means.

JOURNALIST:

45 per cent of the people surveyed felt they were worse off.

PRIME MINISTER:

Again, look, polls are no substitute for - there are lots of polls. Australian journalists are interested in polls. The Australian people are interested in what the budget means for them. What you have seen in those polls - that you are more interested in than me - what you have seen is strong support for the budget measures, strong support for them. But the budget is a fair budget, it is a responsible budget and it is a budget that is focused and directed, every element of it, to ensuring that we maintain strong economic growth. Whether it’s the incentives for small business, the tax cuts for small-to-medium business, whether it is investment in infrastructure, whether it is bringing the Budget back into balance and providing the security that Australians needs and deserve for their essential services, whether it is schools, NDIS, Medicare, we are delivering on a responsible and fair budget and that is how it has been received.

JOURNALIST:

You want to increase the Medicare levy for all workers but if you can't get the numbers, is the government willing to compromise?

PRIME MINISTER:

The proposal we have is a very fair one and it has been received and recognised as fair. We are often asked about hypotheticals. John Laws was asking me this morning; "What will you do if the Senate does this or that". Over the last year, we have got many more things through the Senate than the distinguished members of the media predicted. Without wanting to disappoint you in my response, we will focus on the Senate and treating the senators with respect, we will negotiate with them. We are confident that the merit of the budget, they will find compelling and we will be able to secure support for the increase in the Medicare levy. It does mean a Disability Insurance Scheme that benefits every Australian, either actually or potentially, or benefit somebody we love. We all have a direct interest in that National Disability Insurance Scheme. So it is fair that everyone is able to support it.

JOURNALIST:

So you are willing to compromise?

PRIME MINISTER:

No, what I said is we will be dealing with the Senate and we with confident they will pass our measure. Okay.

JOURNALIST:

The latest - does the latest missile test raise alarm it has longer nuclear range capability? If it does, what should be done to halt its development?

PRIME MINISTER:

The North Korean regime has continued its reckless and provocative and unlawful conduct. We will continue to work with our ally, the United States, and our partners, to impose sanctions on North Korea. But as both the US President and I and others have said, the greatest responsibility for bringing North Korea to its senses lies with China. Now, I am not saying that North Korea is a satellite state of China like East Germany was of the Soviet Union. The Chinese have had plenty of frustrations in dealing with Kim Jong-un as well. But they have the greatest leverage and the greatest responsibility. We look forward to enhanced cooperation between China and the United States and the other nations, including ourselves, focused on ensuring that there is peace and stability on the Peninsula and that has got to be the objective. As you know, I have discussed this with the new President, President Moon, just a few days ago.

Okay, thank you all very much.

[ENDS]