E&OE

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we’re seeing authoritarian regimes flexing their muscles around the globe right now, whether it's Iran, whether it's Russia or in the Indo Pacific, this is a reality of a world which is more uncertain than at any time since the Second World War. The Prime Minister himself has said that, and in that environment, it's incredibly important that we have an ADF that is more than just a paper ADF as ASPI has called it. We need to have the serious capability on the ground to be able to play our role in this more uncertain world. A capability that gives us sovereignty, that gives us agility, and that gives us delivery in terms of having that military capability that is so important in this modern world. That means getting spending to 3% of GDP, and that was a position we took to the last election, and it's a position we maintain, and we will continue to hold the government to account on its failure to fund its own plan, its Defence Strategic Review is not properly funded. Let's be clear about that, and that means crucial programs that are central to our sovereignty are not being funded by this government. That includes making sure that we have the missile manufacturing capacity we need in this country, making sure we've got those new technologies, drone and counter drone technologies that are essential in the modern world. Hardening our northern facilities at a time like this. Funding the Henderson sub facility, which is going to be so crucial to AUKUS, which is, of course, an essential part of our alliance with the US and the UK. An alliance and alliances that are hugely important to us and have served us well over a long period of time, and will continue to serve us well if we play our role in those alliances. Those alliances are there to serve our sovereignty. We will never be at the beck and call of the United States, but we will do the right thing by what is necessary to have a strong alliance with the United States, and that's why it is essential that the Prime Minister meet with the President of the United States. Right now, it seems that the Prime Minister is better able to get a meeting with the President of China than the President of the United States. The United States has fought with us in every major war, and that alliance is incredibly important to this country, regardless of who is leading the United States, that alliance really matters. The Prime Minister needs to get serious about the personal relationship that's necessary to nurture that alliance, to make sure it's realised in its full potential, and to make sure that AUKUS is realized. Both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2, as it needs to be in this modern, uncertain geopolitical environment. Happy to take questions.

 

JOURNALIST:

The government has said, instead of trying to meet a target of GDP, it's looking at where it can spend like where the capability is required. Are you happy with that approach, or do you want there to be a specific target that we're aiming towards, no matter how or what that might be funding?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well Richard Marles and others, Jim Chalmers and the Prime Minister, they'll fluff around talking about all sorts of things because they're not serious about it. I mean, they brought out their own Strategic Review some time back. It's not properly funded. It's not properly funded, and they've got to get serious about this. I mean, ASPI has said it well, we're at risk of having a paper ADF, because this government is not serious about it. Now, it does mean every dollar has to be spent well. Make no mistake about it. That's incredibly important. But it's also clear, it's also clear that 2% of GDP, which is where we stand now, is not what is necessary in this modern, uncertain geopolitical environment where we are seeing, we are seeing these countries flexing their muscles, as I've described earlier.

 

JOURNALIST:

So where should we be spending more money?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, there's a whole lot of areas in the Defence Strategic Review that are clearly underfunded. Our drone and counter drone technologies, as the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan laid out yesterday, making sure that the Henderson sub facility is properly funded. The hardening of our northern facilities at a time like this is incredibly important. Making sure we've got domestic missile manufacturing capability, as the government said they will do but there's no sign of making progress on this. All of these are areas that have to be properly funded alongside AUKUS, the submarines and the frigates. I mean, so there is no shortage of things that need to be properly executed and properly funded, and they're not being right now under this government.

 

JOURNALIST:

Mr Taylor, just on Sussan Ley's speech yesterday on the subject of women, female MPs. Do you support the concept of quotas in in the Liberal Party in the short term or on any basis.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, Phil, I absolutely support making sure that we attract the very best people and retain the very best people in the Liberal Party, whether it's parliamentarians and our staff amongst our supporters, and that, of course, means making sure we've got a representative number of women amongst those people. This is enormously important. I've never been a supporter of quotas as a means to do that. I think there are better ways of doing that, and I've seen that in my own business career, making sure we attract, we retain, we mentor great people, including, of course, great women. This has to be a top priority and I do think and you know, I've worked in one of the top professional services firms in Australia and the world and as the recruiting partner for a period of time, and this is so important. But there is much we need to get right. We're not getting it right at the moment and we need to fix it.

 

JOURNALIST:

Would you also describe yourself as Sussan Ley has said, as a “zealot”, you're a fellow zealot when it comes to more getting more women into the Liberal Party?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I have always been a zealot for talented people. I have always been a zealot for talented people. My career has been built on working with incredible people, and I want to see more of that in the Liberal Party and I tell you what, there's a lot of talented women out there that I'd like to see as members, participants and Members of Parliament in the Liberal Party.

 

JOURNALIST:

So how do you do it? How do you do it if you don't regulate it in some way given, you know, the Party hasn't managed to achieve it before?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, you know, at the end of the day …

 

JOURNALIST:

What did you do in business?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

The answer to everything, if you're in the Labor Party, is regulate it. The answer to solving problems like this in the real world is good people do good things Phil and that's what we need to see happening inside the Liberal Party is making sure that we are obsessed with attracting, retaining and mentoring great talent and I'll tell you what, I've always done it through my political career. I did it through my professional career, and I'm going to continue to do it.

 

JOURNALIST:

Mr Taylor, do you agree with your colleague, Andrew Hastie, who earlier this week said there should be greater transparency about the USS military's involvement its operations in Australia?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I mean, I do think that we need to have this government being upfront and clear about the progress they're making on their Defence Strategic Review and their plan, and we're not seeing that. I mean …

 

JOURNALIST:

But what about the US Bases though?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well I’ll give you an example this and this goes to your question. Is Henderson in WA, which is the where the submarines, of course, is essential to the new AUKUS arrangement treaty, Is that properly funded? Is that properly funded? Well, I'm pretty confident the answer is no, it's not, and it's the same with our northern facilities. So, you know, we need to see, we need to see transparency from this government about how it's progressing towards what it says in the Defence Strategic Review, and we haven't seen it.

 

JOURNALIST:

Mr Taylor, I think Naveen’s question went to the use of Australian bases for US purposes and when Andrew Hastie said that he was talking in the context of the possible use of Pine Gap for the bombs that hit Iran. So in that context, do you call for greater transparency?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah. Look, I do think the government needs to be very clear with us about what our involvement is, or might be, in both the Ukraine and the Middle East and I think that is, I think that is something that we do want to see. I've personally asked the Defence Minister for a briefing on this, Andrew, to your question and I do think it's incumbent on the government to make sure that we are fully informed as to what that situation is.

 

JOURNALIST:

Would you be concerned though, if Pine Gap had been used for …

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well again it’s speculative because we don't have any information about what might have happened or how it might have been used, but we do think it's appropriate that we be briefed on that.

 

JOURNALIST:

But to that point, the government, when asked these questions, the Prime Minister and Penny Wong, when asked these questions this week, all they would say was, “it was unilateral action”. Were you satisfied with that level of response or transparency about what …

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I haven't had a briefing. I’ve asked for one.

 

JOURNALIST:

But in terms of the public comments they've made. Is that enough?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, I've asked for a briefing. I would like one. We've been very clear about this. I understand that Sussan Ley has had some briefing, and I think it's important that we be able to understand what that situation is.

 

JOURNALIST:

Do you think it would undermine Australia's sovereignty if Australia weren't told by the United States what facilities that are jointly operated by Australians and Americans, are actually doing?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well look, Andrew, to your question about sovereignty, I think sovereignty is incredibly important, but sovereignty is also consistent with strong alliances, with good governance around those alliances, to your point about information sharing in that alliance, and we need to know that that is in place. I mean, this is how it works. There's never been sovereignty through history that hasn't also been linked to alliances. But the alliances need to have strong governance and strong transparency between the alliance partners, and I think that is enormously important.

 

JOURNALIST:

Mr Taylor, the Opposition Leader also mentioned the need to address recruitment in the ADF. How urgent do you see that as and what kind of ideas do you bring to the table?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I think it's urgent. I really do. I mean, we're thousands short of the government's own goals. They keep shifting the goal posts on this. But what's clear is we are well short of what we need to do, and it's clear that the government's recruitment program and retention programs are not working at the level they need to, to get the right outcomes and so this is absolutely urgent. It's one of the issues that is clearly being underfunded by the government and it's also got to be, it's got to be the case that getting people to the right locations in the north of Australia is properly funded with the right housing facilities and other facilities to support those personnel. And I think this is a big deal.

 

JOURNALIST:

Mr Taylor, there's supposed to be another video meeting in the next couple of days for the Coalition of the Willing. Before the election Peter Dutton seemed to be against sending Australian troops into Ukraine for peacekeeping. Where do you stand on that? Would you support sending Australian troops in for peacekeeping.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, look, I think we always should be open to providing the support we need to take on the flexing of muscles that I said, that we've seen from regimes like Russia, like Iran, and like we're seeing in the Indo Pacific and you know, it's clear that the Chinese Communist Party is militarising. So all of these, all of these things, we need to make sure that we're doing whatever is necessary to support our allies and do the right thing to get the right outcomes

 

JOURNALIST:

So is that a yes?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well no. You're speculating on something that's not specific. I mean, I can't comment on something that's speculative, but, but I tell you what, we should be constantly looking at how we can do what is necessary to work with our allies to get the right outcomes around the world.

 

JOURNALIST:

Back on defence spending, just how you started this. You called for 3% of GDP. Do you worry, though, that there has about Defence's ability it seems to miss-spend on a grand scale. For example, the frigate programme, we're getting three frigates for $27 billion. $9 billion each. The yanks could make two aircraft carriers for the same amount of money. Doesn't it sound hollow for Defence to have 3% of GDP spending when they mismanage it at such enormous …

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

I completely accept your point, Andrew. We've seen that with the Hunter Class frigates. I mean clearly the numbers have become eye watering in their scale and there's a real issue about making sure our procurement processes, our management processes, our command structure, is efficient and effective in the ADF. I completely agree with that point. But this is both. You've got to get both right. We do have to make sure that every dollar of taxpayers’ money is being spent as well as possible to keep Australians safe. We also have to make sure that the right amount is being spent. Both of these things are an imperative, and I do very much accept the point you make. Thank you very much everybody.

 

ENDS.