15 October 2024
Distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, and friends, welcome to the Australian Embassy.
I am pleased to speak at this important symposium, one that addresses a key challenge for the three governments of Australia, Japan and the United States.
And that shared challenge is how to move from aligned interests and shared assessments to achieving integrated defence industries.
We agree on a lot of issues; now we are working harder to deliver shared effects.
I am grateful this symposium has attracted high-level government officials and industry leaders.
Thanks for your commitment to partnership.
In particular, I acknowledge Mr YAMATO Taro from the Ministry of Defense and the Assistant Commissioner of ATLA, Mr. NISHIWAKI Osamu.
I also welcome the United States Deputy Chief of Mission, Ms. Kemy Monahan, who has a long history of working closely with Japan and with Australia.
The Strategic Environment
We face a more unpredictable, contested, and dangerous strategic environment.
We all know that.
This is felt acutely in Japan, which really does live on the front line of strategic competition.
As set out in Australia’s first National Defence Strategy, the strategic warning time for conflict is much reduced.
We see a huge conventional and non-conventional military build up in our region, taking place without strategic reassurance and transparency.
The sheer scale, scope and ambition of China’s strategic objectives have changed the game – in all domains, not just the military one.
In response, to ensure Australia can pursue its own agenda free from coercion we seek a favourable military balance.
As a maritime, trading nation, we need the oceans to stay open and connected.
We stand for the protection of sovereignty, the primacy of international law and a region that is peaceful, open, and prosperous.
These are goals we share with our partners.
To achieve those goals, and to deter conflict and coercion, we know we need a more technologically advanced and capable military.
It’s not the only thing we need – in Australia we explicitly anchor our defence strategy within a framework of integrated statecraft that also includes diplomacy, development finance, law enforcement and many other domains.
But, in a world in which increasingly power trumps rules, the defence dimension is vital.
And we need to work in partnership – principally with the United States and Japan, but also with others – to achieve scale, to maintain a capability edge and to protect shared interests.
Defence Collaboration
Our National Defence Strategy outlines how we are transforming the Australian Defence Force to an integrated, focused force across the maritime, land, air, space, and cyber domains.
This uplift is a national priority – requiring mobilisation across government agencies, public institutions, and our international partnerships.
We must be able to project power, deter an adversary, protect our people and assets, sustain operations, achieve situational awareness, and exercise command and control.
Those capability effects, as identified in our defence strategy, hinge on acquiring new capabilities and systems.
And one of our seven Sovereign Defence Industrial Priorities is the development and integration of autonomous systems.
As a priority, Australia is investing in small, low-cost, expendable uncrewed aerial systems.
Our domestic industry and supply chain network in this domain are sophisticated and diverse.
We have capable firms specialising in design, componentry, software, and manufacture.
Autonomous technologies offer significant advantages in terms of operational efficiency, risk reduction for personnel, and enhanced capabilities in complex environments.
The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated the importance of such capabilities in modern warfare – in this case in a war illegally and unjustly perpetrated by a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
Ukrainian forces have effectively used small, low-cost, expendable drones for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), enabling precise targeting and real-time situational awareness.
If we, in turn, can harness these systems, we will achieve the combination of lethality, precision, and protection we are looking for.
To get there we need not just to work together but to design, test, build and operate together – we need deep integration between systems, between defence industries, between nations or we won’t be ready for the challenging times ahead.
We need innovative, cost-effective solutions that maximise opportunities for industry participation – and grow a shared defence industrial base.
Our three governments are providing the necessary support and guidance to foster this collaboration.
This includes investing in research and development, providing clear and consistent policies, and ensuring secure and sustainable supply chains for defence materiel and technologies.
The United States-Japan-Australia Trilateral Defense Minister’s Joint Statement released in May reaffirmed the strategic importance of this three-way defence partnership.
We are implementing cooperation across operational, industrial and technological domains at unprecedented scale.
Under the Australia-Japan Reciprocal Access Agreement, signed in August last year, we have also accelerated our operational cooperation with Japan.
It facilitated the first-ever international deployment of Japanese F-35s outside of Japan, to the Northern Territory, and Australia’s first deployment of F-35s to Japan for the 2023 iteration of Exercise BUSHIDO GUARDIAN.
As well as Australia’s inaugural participation in Exercise YAMA SAKURA in December last year, a large-scale Command Post Training Exercise involving the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) and United States Army Pacific.
Looking ahead, we will continue to prioritise trilateral engagements, including increasing Japan’s participation in Australia – United States force posture cooperation in northern Australia.
This includes Australia’s inaugural participation in Exercise ORIENT SHIELD – the largest land exercise between the Japan and the United States.
All three nations will also be involved in the 2025 iterations of Exercise COPE NORTH and Exercise BUSHIDO GUARDIAN, as well as Exercise PITCH BLACK in 2026.
And this year our Ministers also signed the trilateral Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Projects Arrangement.
This agreement facilitates closer defence science and research cooperation, including in the UAS domain.
All these trilateral initiatives and activities reflect a political commitment and a growth in strategic trust.
Conclusion
As we look ahead, we know autonomous, low-cost systems will grow in operational importance.
To get and maintain a technological edge in this field, we need to work together at every stage of the process, and we need jointly to deliver capabilities to our defence forces.
We also know that peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific will increasingly rely on what we – Australia, Japan and the United States - deliver together.
In simple terms, we will succeed together, or fail separately.
For Australia, our national defence strategy is a wider national priority.
We are committed to it, as we are committed to partnership with Japan and the United States.
We look forward to hearing the perspectives and insights of our US and Japanese guests on these important issues.
Today, we want to hear from you about how we can move from potential to delivery.
And we want to showcase Australian expertise and excellence in defence industry.
Thanks for joining us – best wishes for a productive day of discussion.