Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence. Will the minister please outline to the House how the Morrison-McCormick government's strong relationship with Australia's strategic partners is ensuring stability and prosperity in our region?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Boothby for her question, and I thank her very much for her support of the defence industry in South Australia. It's an incredible sight to behold when you go to Osborne and when you meet with the men and women there and see they work they're doing in our country's name to keep our country safe and make sure that our Defence personnel have the best equipment possible.

We are absolutely committed to working with our strategic partners to secure a stable and prosperous future for our region. We want to make sure that we can work with those partners. This morning I joined with defence ministers from the ASEAN group of countries, and we were able to talk about priorities within the region. We were able to talk about upholding the rule of law and making sure sovereignty was protected. It's important that we have not only very dear and important partners in our own region, particularly at a time that is increasingly uncertain in our region, but also partners around the world. The Prime Minister's meeting last night with President Macron from France made clear that France stood by our side amidst increasing tensions in our region. The President went on to say:

I would like to reiterate how committed France remains to defending the balance in the Indo-Pacific region and how much we consider the partnership we have with Australia to be at the heart of this Indo-Pacific strategy.

France understands the increasing threat within our region, and so too does Germany, and so too does NATO. The British Prime Minister has made comments in recent days, at Cornwall as well. And the Prime Minister had a very significant meeting with the US President, as well as the UK Prime Minister, talking about how we have a very longstanding and unshakeable alliance between our countries—a friendship that has survived many decades and one that is more important than ever. We need to make sure that we can continue that cooperation. As we know, the United Kingdom's Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, will be coming to our region shortly, and the ADF is seeking opportunities to engage with the strike group at sea and with the air wing. Australia and her partners are united by our shared values, and we want to make sure we stand up always for the best interests of our country. The Prime Minister's visit to Cornwall, to the G7-plus and now to France has been invaluable in consolidating those relationships and for looking for opportunities as to how we might continue to work together in the future.