 Pat, I might let you hold that or something or I'll put it on the thing, is that alright? You see, it's always about you, isn't it? It's always about him. Isn't that the rule? Look at me! I'm going to take my, don't film me. I'm taking a lozenge out of my mouth. Thank you. Are we right? Look it's really great to be here with the Bipartisan delegation from Australia and I want to make some comments about what we've seen today and the various announcements that have been made. I want to emphasise that the relationship between Australia and Vanuatu is based on mutual respect, a partnership of equals and we saw a symbol of that today as the Prime Minister and the Bipartisan delegation planted mangroves together. Our history is rooted in 40 years of cooperation between our security forces. Our men and women have served together through the hardest times including disaster and more continue. And as two nations committed to democracy, accountability and transparency we will ensure that the agreement is made publicly available. There's probably no greater cooperation, demonstration of our cooperation than what you see behind us. We often, the boats previously gifted in the one Muttawelli handed over today we believe security is a shared responsibility. It's a regional responsibility and we all have a responsibility to ensure that our sovereign decisions enhance the security of all members of the Blue Pacific and we're deeply proud to be the Vanuatu principle security partner of choice. I'll hand over to Senator Birmingham shortly and then we'll take questions before we do that. Can I just express on behalf of all of us and I'm sure everybody here our horror and our shock at the tragic deaths of two police officers in Australia overnight so to the family and friends of Rachel McRoe and Constable Rachel McRoe and Constable Matthew Arnold that we extend our sympathies we extend our deepest condolences and our shock and horror that something like this can happen in Australia and it was a very, very sad thing to wake up to this morning. I might hand over to Senator Birmingham who makes some comments and then we'll take some questions. Thank you Penny and at the outset can I echo those remarks on behalf of the coalition and all of the delegation in relation to the tragic loss that occurred in Queensland. We honour the lives of those police officers who have lost their lives and we salute their service. We do so on a day where we have stood alongside the police service of Vanuatu and with them we know that police services right around the world and put their lives on the line day in, day out for the peace and security of their nations and their peoples and we pay tribute to all those who serve. Can I warmly welcome and celebrate the signing today of the agreement signed by Prime Minister Kausakau on behalf of Vanuatu and Minister Wong on behalf of Australia. This is an agreement that has been in the making since it was announced in 2018 just as the wharf behind us has been in the making since it was announced in 2021. The Guardian Class patrol vessels have been in the making over a number of years and continue to be produced to support our Pacific Island nations and partners. In a challenging and contested world, Australia and Vanuatu are at our strongest when we stand together and when we work together and the signing of this partnership and the delivery of these tangible results of our cooperation and partnership are a demonstration of how effectively we are standing together as nations. We stand together as nations at the forefront of delivering as the Pacific Island Forum members have made clear on Pacific-led solutions to security and stability in the Pacific and that is something that we are all deeply committed to continuing to do and to pursue and as a core part of the bilateral visit that we are undertaking today. I look forward to seeing many more such deliverables over the years to come as governments in Australia, whatever their composition, Labor, Liberal or National make sure that we build upon the partnerships that are effectively underpinning relations in our region. Thank you. Which senator? This senator? That senator? No, no, no, I don't mind. I wasn't genuinely saying, do you want him or me? Look, I think about it in these terms. We have been under parties, governments of both political persuasion, friends, partners with Vanuatu for an excess of four decades and you see some of that behind us and you see it and you hear it in how people speak about it. So this is something that we will continue to do and it reflects our belief that security is a regional responsibility and it is a responsibility of the Pacific family. That principle, of course, being the principle that the leaders again articulated the Pacific Island Forum in July. Minister, Australia is seeking to do a security deal with Abernugini. You struck this agreement with Vanuatu. Are you negotiating similar agreements elsewhere in the Pacific and if so how many? We are engaging with Pacific partners in a manner that is consistent with the principle that I've outlined and that principle is security is a regional responsibility and the responsibility of the Pacific family but I want to emphasise this because it matters a great deal. It matters about how a country wishes to engage with us, what level of cooperation, what priorities that country articulates. Our questions are our issues for that sovereign nation and we as Australia come to that discussion with respect, mutual respect. We come to it with recognition that we are equal partners and we come to listen. So that is how we'll deal with these issues and this is a consequence or this is a result of that approach. Minister, Australia was concerned about China doing these deals in the Pacific. Is this Australian foreign influence at play in this region? This is the embodiment of what Australian Vanuatu do which is we work together to secure our future. That's what this is. We've got a Guardian-class patrol boat. Is it working? The Guardian-class patrol boats are an essential asset for the Pacific nations that use them. They are a successor to the Pacific patrol boats that we provided in the 1980s and 1990s and they do very important security work. There are a number of challenges with them. Most of them problems occurred in the last few years and we are working to fix them. I was at Henderson shipyards about a month ago where I met with the shipbuilder and I reminded them that it's not just their reputation on the lines of reputation of Australia and progress is being made. There are a number of issues that some have been going on for about three years and the technical solutions are being trialled right now and I think the first three of the technical solutions have been rolled out and have been proven to work. The fourth one we are actually doing trials right now in Cairns to resolve the final outstanding issue. I'll make a couple of points. One, this $2.1 billion maritime security program which isn't just the boats, it's the wharf and the training that goes with it is an essential element of a Pacific response to the security challenges of Pacific countries working together the self security gaps. The other thing I would say is that Australia when we provide equipment when we support nations around the world and if something goes wrong and occasionally things will break down like that's the nature of complex equipment, we own the problem. We own it and we commit to fixing un-enter a compartment that's not designed to be entered while at sea. Just don't enter it at sea. I'm not going through the issues but as I said before this is a really important project. It's critical to Pacific nations. They really love the asset. It's a huge step up from the Pacific class patrol boat and we are committed to resolving all those issues. There's been some commentators who have raised the risk of it being of unrest. Do you have any loose concerns? I'm really not going to comment on the Fiji election at this point. We can have a discussion afterwards. Is there any likely questions? Yeah. Are you okay? They said that they want to help. But now that we have these areas that we want here does that mean that the surveillance scale from the Australian government will be going down? No, I think we want both capabilities operating. Do you want to say anything? I'll just, Foreign Minister Wong is absolutely right with what we've said to the governments of the Pacific that have been impacted by it. If there are any impact on their maritime patrol we will fill it and we're doing that right now. And that also includes how we deliver other capabilities to the region to support that. But we're very confident and we're always in constant dialogue with the government. We've got a defence adviser here who meets regularly with the government on those issues. Okay, thanks everyone.