 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for joining us for today's AUKUS Defense Minister's joint press briefing It is my pleasure to introduce US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin the third Australia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles and the United Kingdom Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shaps each of the ministers will deliver opening remarks And then we'll have time to take a few questions Please note that I will moderate those questions and call on journalists with that Secretary Austin the floor is yours, sir. Thanks Patrick. Now. Good afternoon everyone. Let me start by thanking Deputy Prime Minister Marles and Secretary Shaps for coming to California for our second AUKUS Defense Ministerial meeting and It was definitely worth the trip We had a very productive and wide-ranging session and today Just underscore that AUKUS is a once-in-a-generation Opportunity that will promote peace and security throughout the Indo-Pacific The department remains deeply focused on the Indo-Pacific and AUKUS underscores that fact For more than two years our Defense Forces Industries and scientific communities have led this historic endeavor In March our three democracies boldly launched the optimal pathway for Australia to acquire conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines Today we highlighted the important progress that we've made to see that plan through I'm very proud of the sailors from our three countries who are seamlessly training together across our trilateral partnership This year six officers from the Royal Australian Navy graduated from US nuclear power school and More are on track to graduate in early 2024 Now these proud officers and sailors will be the first to operate Australia's conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines As part of the optimal pathway, we're also working to increase the frequency of US SSN port visits to Australia This directly supports President Biden's commitment to ensure that Australia acquires this new submarine capability At the earliest possible date While meeting the highest standard of nuclear non-proliferation The ministers and I also reviewed our major accomplishments within the crucial second pillar of AUKUS Through pillar two we have leveraged our respective defense innovation and industry sectors To develop and deliver Advanced capabilities so that our war fighters can hear See and act with decisive advantage We're innovating with cutting-edge tech in several areas including artificial intelligence electronic warfare and quantum technology And by implementing strong standards of technology protection We are reducing barriers to sharing information and technology And we're streamlining our processes to deliver these capabilities and lead our partnership forward for the next generation Today we endorse several new efforts under pillar two of AUKUS Let me highlight two of these efforts The first is a maritime autonomous experimentation and exercise Beginning next year our three countries will conduct a series of integrated trilateral experiments and exercises They will enhance capability development improve our interoperability and Rapidly accelerate the sophistication and scale of autonomous maritime systems That we can deploy and operate together Second is an AUKUS innovation challenge series That will mean that companies from across our three countries Can compete for a common innovation challenge prize That will help our war fighters improve interoperability gain decision advantage and strengthen our deterrence Now these challenges will begin in early 2024 with a prize challenge focusing on electronic warfare Again and again AUKUS proves that we are stronger together And every day we move closer to our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific So Deputy Prime Minister Morales and Secretary Shops I'm truly grateful for your leadership and your friendship and for everything that you're doing for our shared security And I look forward to strengthening our partnership even further into building a more secure future together Richard Well, thank you Lloyd. Thank you for hosting us here today And it is great to see you and it is great to see you Grant here in California and we have had a very productive day in this trilateral AUKUS Defense Ministers meeting and as we reflect today on What has happened in the last 12 months since we met as a group in Washington DC in December of last year It has been a truly momentous year where there has been an enormous amount of progress particularly in respect of Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability with the help of the United States and the United Kingdom under pillar one of AUKUS in March of this year we saw the announcement of the pathway by which this would be achieved Which was a breakthrough moment in terms of Australia's defense capability and since then we've seen the standing up of the Australian Submarine Agency we have seen the commencement of infrastructure work We have seen Australians undertake training both Submariners and defense industry workers Here in the United States as as Lloyd mentioned the nuclear power school, but also in the United Kingdom We have seen Importantly the legislative work proceed to enable this to happen in both of our countries We've seen the frequency as we promised back in March of Visits of the United States nuclear powered submarines happen to Australia Indeed in the last 12 months we've seen the USS Mississippi the USS Asheville and the USS North Carolina Visit our country and we look forward in the future to Seeing more of those visits including visits of the stu class submarines from the United Kingdom But as we reflect on that year past we are also making very important announcements today about the future in respect of pillar one Next year we'll see the most significant maintenance occur in Australia of the United States nuclear powered submarine Which we plan to happen in the third quarter of next year Which will crystallize the development that needs to be occurring in terms of both infrastructure and skills within our workforce and our Submariner base So we are really pleased about the progress in respect of all of that and it is An enormous amount of work which has occurred over the course of the last 12 months But significantly in terms of today's meeting. It is actually pillar two Which has taken Center stage And indeed I think today's meeting will be regarded as a critical moment in the history of pillar two of orcas And that is the sharing and development of advanced technologies between our three countries. We're putting in place The architecture which will enable that to happen through the international joint requirement oversight council, which will give a Joint capacity to look at the technologies with which we are pursuing Our armaments directors will be working together with the tabletop exercise Next year and as lord mentioned Our innovation organizations the defense innovation unit Of both the united states and the united kingdom along with the australian strategic capabilities accelerator Working together on joint challenges Which we'll see initially that happen in the space of electronic warfare And again the legislative environment which is being worked on In our country is creating a seamless defense industrial base between the united states Australia and the united kingdom, which is so essential to seeing orcas pillar two Become operational But in terms of that architecture today, we are backing it up with practical first steps Where pratt web where specific technologies are being worked on And we are announcing a significant number of those today, which include work on quantum clock, which includes the Deep space advanced radar capability in our three countries and includes resilient artificial intelligence Which in turn will give rise to resilient precision targeting All of these are practical steps forward Which come on the back of an architecture, which has been established today in relation to pillar two And I think when we look back at the significance of today's meeting We will see this as the critical meeting Which was a watershed in the progress of pillar two of orcas Across all of our work pillar one and pillar two across the friendships that exist between the three of us personally What is really clear is that Orcas represents a powerful Combination of countries working together, which is sending a really important message to the world I think all of us have remarked on the fact that Together when we are meeting when we are discussing these technologies when we are taking these steps down the path Each of our countries is much stronger Thank you very much Lloyd Richard It's 80 years since the us navy shot down an enemy dive bomber of cape hunter on the south coast of guadalcanal Nothing particularly unusual. It was the second world war Going on at the time. But what was remarkable about that particular navy destroy Was that the fighter The actual Missile hit would hit it without a direct hit it missed in effect So this was actually a piece of fatal artillery That had destroyed That particular item but the shell itself was revolutionary because The 15 centimeter fuse was capable of detonating when it was close to the target So in a sense it missed But it also hit The tiny proximity fuse Not only helped win that particular battle, but it also helped turn the tide of the war And this miniature miracle was only possible because of a different type of fusion and that was You guessed it between australia the uk and the united states It's actually developed by a brilliant australian scientist called william buteman Who was in london developing it and the fuse was then transferred to the united states Where it turned into this tremendous game changer Today in a much more dangerous world with russia waging war in ukraine With hammers reaching havoc in the middle east China undermining the freedom of navigation in the indovacific. We've never had a greater need for More innovation to be more pioneering, which is why over the past few years orcus Has been fusing together our Transnational brain power and here at the defense innovation unit We've discussed the results a raft of game changing new orcus projects Together our nations will be launching and recovering undersea vehicles from torpedo torpedo tubes On current submarines will be enabling us to deliver more sophisticated strike intelligent surveillance and reconnaissance will be using quantum technologies just mentioned to support global positioning enhancing the ability of our Undersea capabilities including on our future ssn orcus submarines So they can stay silent and undetected And sharing in not only all of this not only with multiple undersea systems But with our p8a maritime patrol aircraft strengthening our capacity to zero in on potential dangers I think the inventor of that artillery shell dr. Buteman Would have been proud of what we've been talking about today the man they dubbed at the time mr Searchlight radar would have certainly appreciated another landmark agreement that we are signing today because In the coming years our nations will be creating a global radar network Bringing together three ground base stations one in each of our countries radars more sensitive more accurate More powerful and agile than anything that has gone before giving us the ability to see beyond the clouds and to detect Identifying track in space up to 22,000 miles away operational by 2029 that's this new initiative Alongside orcus will not just help us to protect our communications and our navigation satellites from deadly threats of tomorrow But will boost all three of our economies Back in 1943 our brightest minds proved that geography was in fact no barrier To our innovation as long as our values and our Ingenuity was in close proximity And 80 years on inspired by the creators of that miraculous Invention our alliances once again fusing our intelligence together sparking new capabilities From sea to space and igniting the ideas that will change the course of our history So Lloyd Richard, that's why I've enjoyed our conversation so much this afternoon We said we were going to Ensure that pillar two was meaningful that it would change the way that we work together And today we've set that course and delighted to be working with you both. Thank you Thank you very much gentlemen. Our first question. We'll go to Associated Press Alita Belldor To the two ministers You've both talked a bit about the Various types of technology that you agreed on today The radars the deep space And What specifically your countries are looking at in terms of what you think One of the top priorities is for improving your military capabilities through this What would be something that you were really Hoping to key in on what would aspect of it and Mr. Secretary for you if you want to answer that question also But a separate question for you Today The as you know the the truce In israel ended israel Do you believe israel has been taking the american warnings about civilian casualties? Seriously, are you or are you Concerned that even hours after the truce ended there were about 175 deaths already in gaza I'll start if you All of us how this started October 7th Hamas launched a very brutal attack Into israel Took the lives of over 1200 israelis Took over 200 hostages Which included Small children and holocaust survivors and and so We have said a number of times that We will continue to support israel's right to defend itself Now i'll let israel speak for all operations What i will tell you lita is that You know i'm i talked to minister galant on a new york daily basis as you know At each time i talked to him i remind him of the Necessity to make sure that we're that they are protecting Innocent civilians and creating pathways and corridors for civilians to To move out of the out of the battle space And they need to make sure that they're doing things to ensure civilian safety So that's that conversation is ongoing On a near daily basis We're going to continue to work with Israel and egypt and in cutter On effort efforts to reimplement the pause and i think the pause during the pauses You know we've gotten some very meaningful things done in terms of a number of hostages out of the out of gaza Plus we've been able to introduce a meaningful amount humanitarian assistance More needs to be done for sure But it's encouraging to see that we've been able to ramp up the amount that we've We've moved into gaza One of the conditions for The pauses to continue an israeli condition was that hamas be able to provide At least 10 hostages for release each day And they've at this point failed to produce names or hostages for you know upcoming days And i would also remind you that that we've seen things like A brutal terrorist attack recently on the part of hamas in jerusalem So hamas has violated the the very conditions that that they agreed to so Again This remains dynamic. We'll continue to do everything we can to emphasize to the israelis the necessity to operate within a law of war but also Protect civilians in a battle space We'll perhaps in answer to the the first part of the question Australia is a an island nation which is geographically relatively distant from Other parts of the world and so our needs Lie in maritime capabilities, but longer longer range capabilities Capabilities which enable us to project and so Having strike capabilities are really important. And when you look at something like Resilient precision targeting Which forms part of the announcements today that is critically important When you look at the maritime autonomy measures that are contained in the announcements today, that's hugely beneficial for a country like australia I think the third area which is which is covered by the specific Technologies which have been described in the announcements is decision advantage You know decision advantage in terms of the time it takes to make a decision in the battle space But also the fidelity with which the fidelity of information that is therefore the decision maker That's obviously critically important to any defense forces. It is to ours So when we look at the technologies that we are working on as three countries They are highly relevant to the specific needs of the australian defense force And to the same question about which element of it, of course, we've had nuclear subs running for nearly six decades under the sea in the united kingdom nuclear arm as well So there are two things which are exciting. Well, there's a huge number to go after Uh Simple answer to your question Is it's hard to know which of those will end up being the most relevant part of the new You can't see the future but partly and I was reflecting our meeting Given that kessinger that's just passed away He once remarked no country can act wisely Simultaneously in every part of the globe with every moment in time And I was saying in our meeting that's why three wise heads were together assuring better than one I'm excited about all these developments, but I can't tell you which one in the long run I should be most excited about today. That is the purpose of working together Thank you our next question will go to channel nine news australia johnny Seriously, thank you very much for your dear general johnny kersley from channel nine australia From secretary's minister Thanks very much for your time today. I wanted to go to initially china's recent aggression in other city For instance, so in our attacks on australia may be others. We've seen The chinese coast guard vessels ramming into philippine navy vessels But these are the types of issues firstly, but then to be raised directly lean at a leader level Uh, it has it increased your need for urgency in formulating the august agreements, particularly around some of the aspects And the increase in the urgency in bringing that partnership together a lot faster and finally if I may August is an agreement that is designed to last you described it as generational Donald trump is running for president of the united states is a mandatory American Confident that president biden is going to win the next election And and I will remain confident of that I would tell you that What we're working on here is as you pointed out a generational capability We have common uh goals and objectives foremost among those goals and objectives is to Ensure that we maintain a free and open endo pacific Our values are are are similar And we have a long-standing working relationships with each other I continue to see Bipartisan support in both chamber of congress, uh for August and That support Success going going forward so again I'm very confident that we'll be able to work together on this very very important issue And and again, I think All three of our countries See the value in the you know long-term capability that this is going to create Joe to go to your first the first part of your question The That is My concerns about And it's important that we make this public and those representations have been made very clearly to In terms of the and what does that say about the environment that we're operating in and the importance of Moving at a pace in terms of our work. I mean the answer is It absolutely highlights the need for this arrangement and it absolutely highlights the need for speed in this arrangement And I think you can see that speed I mean when you look at where we were 12 months ago compared to where we are today It is a huge leap forward in terms of the work that we've done on Australia acquiring a nuclear powered submarine capability, which for our country represents the the biggest leap forward In military capability in more than a century And you know the fact that we've now been able to identify that pathway that I said earlier We've stood up the relevant agencies. We're seeing infrastructure work. We commenced our workforce being trained The visit's happening This is moving fast. But what does happen Well, firstly though in terms of acquiring that capability It will change the character of Australia in terms of what we are capable of doing and that does not happen overnight There is no showroom where you can go and buy a Virginia class submarine We are acquiring the capability to operate and build nuclear powered submarines in Australia It will be the biggest industrial endeavor that we have ever undertaken as a nation And it is not going to happen overnight But I'll tell you what does happen overnight The fact of our three countries standing here right now Meeting in the way that we are making the plans that we are making and walking down this path together Represents an enormous deterrent effect immediately It sends a very very powerful message to the world and a very important message to the world And as to the final part of your question We are completely confident About the American system as I might say we are about the British system and indeed our own For this reason that across the three countries There is bipartisan support for this arrangement That's actually what gives it power by virtue of that bipartisan support across our three nations We can confidently say That when the three of us are not standing here at some point in the future and there are three other individuals They will be pursuing the same objectives and in respect of the u.s. specifically You know, I've had the opportunity of being on Capitol Hill In the last few weeks To talk to lawmakers around The legislation which is currently progressing through the u.s. Congress and as the lawyer said Across the political spectrum. There is Both a commitment to the alliance between australia and the united states and support for it There is commitment to orcas and the relationship between our three countries And you know, I think there is strong support for the specifics Which is in that legislative package, but that ought to give Everyone in australia an enormous sense of confidence that this is an arrangement And a set of relationships which genuinely does enjoy support across the political spectrum in the u.s As I know it does in britain as it certainly does in australia Actually, I've been on Capitol Hill unrelated in a separate visit Last month very very support for the orcas and so every confidence in As richard says in orcas being for the very long term On your actual point navigation of the of the open seas under international law or something the united kingdom takes Incredibly seriously We regularly and consistently are in the In the pacific will continue to be so Do so We already announced plans to send our carrier strike group by the queen Elizabeth class Again following a visit previously the You know be very important In the context of orcas actually just to be absolutely clear that the those international rules are there for a reason The International maritime organization takes this particular right of free passage very very seriously Orcas is a fantastic way to make that clear to Just on that specific aspect, but to these incidents that occur in the south trying to see Even the city more broadly do these need to be raised directly? Yeah, and and and actually there are there are always diplomatic processes to do that because you know the same in the air Other circumstances with Russia for example So these these issues are always raised this professional way to Behave and act in the air in the sea When countries breach those professional professional it's a natural professional pride for most navies for one thing And But no one should be under the impression That any of us are prepared to be kind of bullied out some forces which are clearly international forces But all to sail under international law much gentlemen our final question will go to NBC news robert handa Happy to take the final question. It's been thrown open Can I can I ask you? Minister mild you say that this is moving fast Is it right that you've indicated today that an east coast base for the nuclear subs Will not be selected to the end until the end of the decade? Do we really need six years to make that decision and are you kicking the can down the road on something that's Believing We've made that position clear before today That the timing in which to determine an east coast base is at the end of this decade and We we made that clear at the time that we Articulated the pathway by which Australia would acquire and you could have powered submarine capability I mean it will be an important decision But in the sequence of decisions that needs to be made that's when that's when it comes up And you know there will be other decisions that need to be made such as where we will Locate the place that we will ultimately dispose the nuclear reactors. That's clearly going to be a devial decision But in turn that's a a decision which comes later again What so it this is a matter of laying out the pathway and following it right here and right now We are evolving an industrial capability to build nuclear powered submarines out of the Osborne naval shipyard in Adelaide We are evolving an operational capacity to operate and maintain nuclear powered submarines out of hms sterling in Rockingham south of Perth We you know the first step was about having an increased number of nuclear powered submarine visits to HMS sterling which is happening as we speak and as I articulated you know the next step in that will occur Next year as a result of the meeting that we've had today So each of these is about working through the steps of the pathway that we articulated last march and The determination of the location for an east coast base is going to be a big decision But it's a decision which is to be made in the late 2020s and we're going to work through each of the decisions as they come Gentlemen, thank you so much ladies and gentlemen. This concludes our press brief