Good morning. I'm joined by the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, and the Head of Military Strategic Commitments, Rear Admiral Jonathan Earley this morning. Last night near Lismore, 7th Brigade soldiers who are based at the Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane as part of Joint Task Force 629 were involved in a serious vehicle accident. There were 32 soldiers across two vehicles involved in this incident. 13 soldiers were assessed on scene as having injuries. Six have serious injuries. All are being cared for in local hospitals. Everyone at the scene did their best to look after their mates and I am hugely grateful to emergency services and healthcare workers for the first aid and ongoing care. All of their families have now been notified. For the extraordinary members of the Australian Defence Force and their loved ones, there are no easy days. Every day could bring danger, every day carries risks and yet they step up and face them for us, the Australian people, for our nation and for their fellow Australians. These men and women are heroes who were on their way to help people in need. They were doing this at a time when some of their own families were bearing the brunt of Alfred. We will never take for granted the enormous sacrifice our soldiers make for us and we will do all we can to support those injured and their families. We thank them for their service yesterday, today and every day. Shortly we will head to Queensland to work on cyclone support and recovery and to meet ADF personnel. I'll now turn to the Deputy Prime Minister and then Rear Admiral. Then I'll have a short statement about the floods and then we will take questions.
RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE: Thank you, Prime Minister. At about a quarter past five yesterday afternoon, NSW time, the accident occurred to which the Prime Minister was referred, involving two 40 Mike trucks on the Tregeagle Road in the vicinity of Tregeagle near Lismore. The trucks were configured to carry personnel. There were 16 on each truck and this team of 32 had been engaged in route clearance work and were in transit from one task to another when the incident occurred. Both trucks rolled - the circumstances of the incident are still being investigated. As the Prime Minister said, 13 were injured, some of them seriously. All are expected to recover and those 13 are in local hospitals in Byron Bay, Tweed Valley, in Lismore. The 13 - or the 32, I should say - came from the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, the 7th Service Support Battalion, all being part of 7 Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in Enoggera in Brisbane. As the Prime Minister has said, the families of all personnel have been notified and we would like to take the opportunity to thank the New South Wales Police, the New South Wales Ambulance Service, the New South Wales State Emergency Service and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, all of whom attended on the scene of the accident and performed exemplary duties in supporting those who had been injured. All 32 who are involved in the accident have been medically assessed. As the Prime Minister said, when the men and women of our Defence Force sign up to wear our nation's uniform, they choose a life of service and they do so to make a difference. They are there to help their fellow Australians, and that's what each of these 32 people were doing yesterday in support of those who are feeling the brunt of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in Northern New South Wales. They did so without question. They wanted to make a difference - this is why they had signed up. But they also knew that they were in difficult circumstances where the weather obviously made conditions treacherous and in that sense they were putting themselves voluntarily in danger. And we very much thank them for their service and our thoughts are very much with those who have been injured. In this moment we are reminded about the selflessness of those who wear our nation's uniform and we are deeply grateful to them.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. Rear Admiral Earley.
REAR ADMIRAL JONATHAN EARLEY CSC, HEAD OF MILITARY STRATEGIC COMMITMENTS: Thank you, Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. As both the PM and DPM have mentioned, they've gone through the broad high level details of what occurred yesterday afternoon. I'd just like to add that Defence is assisting the New South Wales Police to actually determine the cause of this of this incident. We can confirm as mentioned that all families of injured personnel have been notified and Defence is now focused on supporting those involved and the necessary support services have been made available to them. Defence asks that the privacy of our members and their families is respected in this quite difficult time for them. And as mentioned by both the PM and the DPM, Defence is very much grateful and we want to extend our absolute gratitude to the New South Wales Ambulance, New South Wales Police Force, New South Wales State Emergency Service and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service who all assisted in getting our soldiers out of those vehicles, treated and transported to hospital as quickly as they could. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Sir. Can I just briefly say on the floods that the situation in Queensland and Northern New South Wales remains very serious due to flash flooding and heavy winds. Heavy rainfall, damaging wind gusts and coastal surf impacts are expected to continue over coming days. I urge everyone to continue to listen carefully to the emergency authorities. Tragically last night it was confirmed a 61 year old man has died in floodwaters near Dorrigo in New South Wales. Our thoughts are with his loved ones and the community at this heartbreaking time.
JOURNALIST: Minister Marles, the authors of the Defence Strategic Review a couple of years ago were quite adamant that the ADF wasn't structured or equipped to be a disaster recovery, disaster response agency alongside all of its other responsibilities. Does this incident give you any pause for thought about the reliance on the ADF in natural disasters?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: No, in this sense the Defence Strategic Review referred to the fact that an increasing number of climate events was giving rise to an increasing use of the Defence Force in terms of natural disasters. And in a macro sense, we needed to be thinking about how we supported all of our governmental efforts in terms of responding to natural disasters and ensuring that Defence was the last port of call. That said, in respect of any particular incident right now, it is obviously going to be the case, and will always be the case while we are here, that Defence will be there ready to provide support when they have unique assets that can be provided. Now in this instance, the vehicles that Defence had, the personnel that they had, were enormously useful in respect of route clearance. But as we look forward into this natural disaster, airlift capability, personnel fundamentally doing door knocking, everyone stepping in and helping, is something that in the here and now, we will obviously be providing.
JOURNALIST: Just for the DPM, and following up on Cam's question. The Defence Strategic Review did find that it was impacting on the ADF's capability and its effectiveness as a war fighting capability. Are you being told by the leadership in the ADF that pulling troops out to go to these disasters are actually impacting their training?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: I mean, we are working with the National Emergency Management Australia, with the Emergency Minister, Jenny McAllister, and across all the state emergency services about how going forward, we structure our responses to natural disasters. And that is an important conversation to be had and the relative resources that are there from the various agencies, and that's what the Defence Strategic Review was referring to. But in a given disaster right now, Defence will always be there to present and that is what has occurred. And as I said in my opening statement, you know, having met Defence Force personnel who have provided service of this kind in natural disasters just a few weeks ago, most recently in Townsville. For those who do this work, they are enormously proud, understandably, of what they do. They are grateful for the opportunity and that will continue to be the case. Yes, there is a conversation that we continue to, we are having and we will continue to have going forward. But in a given disaster right now, we will be there and we will continue to lean forward to make sure that all the capabilities are provided.
JOURNALIST: Will there be any immediate impact on the operational capability of the ADF up in Lismore from this incident? Is there going to be any changes to how those particular trucks are deployed? Any changes around advice on conditions?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER No. I mean there's, it's two trucks have been involved in this. We have a significant fleet of trucks. So in terms of the ADF's broader capabilities, they're not going to be impacted. And in terms of the contribution that the ADF will be making to support this particular disaster in Northern New South Wales, that will continue.
JOURNALIST: You discussed, you had a conversation last night with Keir Starmer. Did you specifically discuss sending Australian troops to Ukraine or another form of support as part of the coalition of the willing?
PRIME MINISTER: I had a very constructive discussion with the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, last night. I regard him as a friend and he is a very strong supporter of the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom. We discussed three prime issues. The first was the Prime Minister expressed his solidarity with Australians at this difficult time in dealing with Alfred, and he offered any support that could be given by the UK. Secondly, he reaffirmed his commitment and our joint commitment to AUKUS going forward, and we had a discussion about that. And thirdly, we did discuss the issue of Ukraine and the coalition of the willing, as he has put it, going forward. There will be a meeting of Chiefs of Defence and representatives of the Chiefs of Defence in Paris on Tuesday. Australia will send a senior representative to that meeting to discuss going forward. Both of us, both of our nations are very clear about our support for Ukraine and it of course is too early. You can't have peacekeeping forces without having peace. So moving forward though, it is important that planning be put in place and Australia will participate in that meeting on Tuesday.
JOURNALIST: Media reporting suggests, though, that not all countries have committed or are considering committing troops. So just on the specifics of troops, did you discuss sending Australians?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think I answered it, with respect. Which is that it's too early, but I certainly have said very clearly publicly, repeatedly, that we would give consideration to participating in any peacekeeping mission in the Ukraine. And on Tuesday, Australia will participate in this meeting of Chiefs of Defence Forces or their representatives.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, now that the election will likely be in May, does that give you more of a chance to travel to the US to meet with President Donald Trump about getting exemptions to tariffs?
PRIME MINISTER: Quite frankly, we're here concerned with what's happened here over the last 24 hours, and that's my focus at the moment. My focus has been solely on this. As I said repeatedly this week, my focus is on the lives of Australians, the risk that Alfred represents to people in South East Queensland and in Northern New South Wales, not on votes.
JOURNALIST: Just to clarify too, Prime Minister, in those discussions with Prime Minister Starmer, did you say to him that you would still consider sending troops or did you commit to sending troops?
PRIME MINISTER: I said that we would consider. As I've said, there is no mission at this point in time. You can't have a peacekeeping mission without having peace. We discussed a range of issues, some of which in the nature of these things, with diplomacy, and one that I always respect, will remain as discussions between us. But clearly I have said we would consider. We have been invited to this meeting on Tuesday and we will participate.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what do you make of Roger Cook's resounding win in WA at the WA election? And what does this mean for Federal Labor come the upcoming federal election?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I certainly congratulate my friend Roger Cook, the Premier of Western Australia, on his resounding victory. This is an extraordinary result from someone who has transitioned to Premier after Mark McGowan chose to step aside and has shown extraordinary leadership on behalf of West Australians. Roger's been a friend of mine for a long period of time, since before either of us were in politics. And we talk regularly, we engaged yesterday during the day and during the week. Western Australia was the first state to sign up to our Fairer Funding for Schools Agreement. And I look forward to continuing to work with Roger as the Premier. We had a press conference scheduled for an announcement on Friday. I prioritised being here on the East Coast and he certainly understood that. So we'll make that announcement down the track. The only risk for Western Australians is Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party, who still refuse to support Production Tax Credits, refuse to engage constructively over supporting stronger Medicare, over supporting Fairer Schools. The cutbacks to the public service and the attacks on the public service will affect people the further out they are from Canberra. We have public servants based, of course, in Western Australia and delivering services for them. So, I congratulate Roger Cook and his entire team. It's been a disciplined, effective campaign and they achieved the results that they deserved.
JOURNALIST: What are the messages, though, Prime Minister, for you? In that there was a swing against Labor. It didn't seem to go to the Liberal Party. It seemed to go to the Greens and elsewhere. People looking for some sort of third way.
PRIME MINISTER: I think the result was outstanding. There was always going to be a drop from the quite frankly stratospheric result of the 2021 election. But this is, to put it in context, this is the second largest victory in history in Western Australia. That is quite remarkable for a government seeking a third term in office. Roger Cook deserves that. The seamless transition from Mark McGowan to Roger Cook is a great example, and one of the lessons is discipline. WA Labor have been disciplined. The WA Liberal Party, with their factions, with their hatred of each other, with the candidates that they've run, continue to be dysfunctional. And clearly the WA public decided that that was the case as well, which is why you've seen very little movement in seats from the record result that occurred in 2021. Last one.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you think that cost of living assistance for households will be a feature of the Budget, especially going into the election campaign? It would seem like a good opportunity for Labor to deliver on bona fides in that regard.
PRIME MINISTER: Look we will always, as I said repeatedly, our Budget's on March 25th. We scheduled it last year. Every single portfolio has more than, more than a week ago, two weeks ago we concluded all the portfolio budget meetings through the Expenditure Review Committee process. We will always do what we can to assist people. That is one of the defining characteristics of my term of government, is that we were saying yes to Energy Bill Relief, yes to tax cuts for all Australians, yes to Cheaper Child Care, yes to Free TAFE, yes to providing a range of support, including lifting rental assistance by 45 per cent over two Budgets. We were saying yes to all of that whilst getting the Liberal Party deficits, turning them into Labor surpluses. We have been very focused on the needs of Australians. Our opponents have opposed every one of those cost of living measures. Have said no to all of those measures. And indeed this time last year, Peter Dutton was calling for an election in order to stop Australians getting a tax cut. I think he deserves to be held to account on that and will be doing so in the coming weeks and months ahead. Thank you very much.
