ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It’s fantastic to be here at Thales in Bendigo, one of the great regional cities of Australia. And what we know is that regional Australia is the driving force behind a resurgence of advanced manufacturing and here at Thales it employs 300 people. And I know that Lisa Chesters as the local member is incredibly proud of Thales and other manufacturing facilities here in Bendigo. And Richard Marles, as the Defence Minister is particularly proud of what happens right here at this facility producing world class manufacturing in the form of particularly the Bushmasters, but also Hawkeyes. The Bushmasters that have produced more than 1,000 here. The facility here employs 300 people in good, well-paid, secure jobs. And Bushmasters are playing a role not just here in Australia in defending the Australian Defence Force personnel along with Hawkeyes, they are playing a role around the world now. When I visited Kyiv and met with President Zelenskyy, he requested additional Bushmasters, because he identified the provision of Bushmasters as being critical to supporting the Ukrainian defence personnel who are defending their country against the illegal invasion of Russia. We have committed to providing 90 Bushmasters to Ukraine, and they're on the ground making a difference each and every day to the defence of that nation. Which, of course, is a struggle not just for the people of Ukraine, but is a struggle for the rule of law internationally and for the rights of sovereign nation states that continue to exist within secure boundaries. So I'm very pleased to be here today and it's a proud moment to meet with the workforce and I thank them for the welcome. And I say to them, in talking with them there's that sense of pride. We met the Nankervises, two generations here working side-by-side. One of them who has been here for over 20 years, and the other is a young apprentice. There’s more than ten apprentices that will come into this facility during this year and that's the resurgence that we're seeing in Australian skills and training. We need to make more things here. We need to add more sovereign capability here. One of the key elements of the election campaign that I fought last year was a future made in Australia. And with our National Reconstruction Fund, with our support for 180,000 fee-free TAFE places, with our support for Australian industry and manufacturing, we're delivering on the commitments that we made.
RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Prime Minister. It's fantastic to be here today with the Prime Minister in Bendigo. And it's great to be here with Lisa Chesters, our wonderful Member for Bendigo in the Federal Parliament. Lisa does such a great job representing this community in Canberra. Lisa and I are both from regional Victoria, from regional Australia and we both understand that regional Australia has never had a better friend in the office of the Prime Minister than Anthony Albanese. The Prime Minister is a former minister for regional development in this country. He knows how important regional Australia is for the future of our nation. But really importantly, he understands how significant manufacturing is to drive regional cities in our country and we see a perfect example of that here at Thales in Bendigo. This is really one of the jewels in the crown of Australian defence industry. This is a showcase of Australian defence industry export. We are seeing Bushmasters made here exported to the world. And right now, we just toured the line and there are a number of Bushmasters there which are destined for New Zealand, as an example of that. Bushmasters have been saving the lives of Australian servicemen and women deployed in places like Afghanistan for many, many years now. So we understand how important both the Bushmasters and the Hawkeyes are. They are very much in the centre of Australia’s Army. But what we've all seen over the course of the last year with the appalling events that have played out in Ukraine is just how significant this platform can be in saving lives in a conflict such as that. And I know that every worker here has a sense of intense pride in what they are doing in making vehicles which are saving lives, and in this instance, saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, and we will very much as a nation be standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes. And the Bushmasters are very central to that. It's great to be here with our Prime Minister, and as I say, everyone here should have a great sense of pride for what they do.
JOURNALIST: Deputy Prime Minister, can you just confirm if you’re heading overseas next week and what the purpose of the trip is, does it involve talks on Ukraine?
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: This in the public domain, but both myself and Penny Wong will be travelling overseas next week to both Paris for the two-plus-two with France, and then the United Kingdom for the two-plus-two AUKMIN with the UK. Both of those are meetings which happen on an annual basis and they really are the heart of our bilateral relationship with both France and the United Kingdom. So we will be discussing the full gamut of issues that are there on the plate of both our countries and, yes, Ukraine is obviously an issue that will be front and centre in what we will be talking about next week.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you think Djokovic's father needs to be kicked out of the country for supporting Putin?
PRIME MINISTER: I have seen some commentary about this. I'll make this point, that Australia stands with the people of Ukraine. That's Australia's position. And Australia is unequivocal in our support for the rule of international law and we don't want to see any support given to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that is having a devastating impact on the people of Ukraine.
JOURNALIST: On the Bushmasters, 90 were committed and have 90 actually, you said they were on the ground, they've already been built, they’re over there, are they currently in use?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we're, we don't comment on operational detail. There there's a war going on in Ukraine so we don't provide figures of how many are on the ground and all of that. I say that 90 have been committed and 90 will be delivered, and we know that those 90 will all make an enormous difference. But we don't comment about the specific figures of what and how many, for obvious reasons.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: The schedule of delivery is on track.
JOURNALIST: What was the schedule?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we don't comment. There's a war going on, and when there's a war going on, what you don't say is what your side is doing specifically at any given time and I'm sure you would understand that.
JOURNALIST: There's also, I think, a push from some in the government or MPs, to deliver more, up to 180, I think. Is that something that may be still under consideration?
PRIME MINISTER: We have committed not just 90 Bushmasters, but we have committed and delivered and it's been bipartisan, I must say that, for the former government and my government has continued to increase the support. We've provided other support, including some cyber assistance. But we're also providing support of training of Ukrainian defence personnel. The Australian Defence Force personnel who travelled to the United Kingdom will be training Ukrainian soldiers. And they did a lot of prep work in Northern Australia prior to their departure. And they go with the goodwill of the Australian government and I believe, the Australian people, who overwhelmingly stand with the people of Ukraine. Thanks very much.