Kieran Gilbert, Host: Let's go live to the Assistant Foreign Minister, Matt Thistlethwaite. You heard there Annelise saying and making the good point, this is Israel defying its closest and many would expect, and would say one of the last key allies that Israel's got.
Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Kieran, that's why we're deeply concerned about this strike by Israel. It not only violates Qatar's sovereignty, but it jeopardises the release of hostages, which is what we all want to see, and indeed moves toward a ceasefire. Qatar had been a nation that has been working cooperatively with the United States and Egypt behind the scenes to try and broker a ceasefire and broke the release of hostages. And this action by the Israeli Defence Force just jeopardises that.
Gilbert: Do you, do you worry, you know, Australia, as a friend of Israel and has been since its inception, one of the first to vote in favour of the Jewish homeland, that this is all proving massively counterproductive for Jerusalem and for the Netanyahu government?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, we are concerned that these sort of actions are moving away from peace, which is what Australia and the international community want to see. We certainly want to see the release of those hostages who've been incarcerated for far too long. And we want to see a lasting peace developed. That's why we've announced that at the United Nations General Assembly we'll make moves towards a two-state solution because we know Hamas doesn't want two states, but the world does to ensure that we've got a lasting peace and resolution to this conflict.
Gilbert: Do you take the point, though, Prime Minister Netanyahu says that he vowed to, to bring retribution upon those that perpetrated October 7th and by targeting the terrorist group's leadership, that he's honouring that promise?
Assistant Minister: Well, obviously Hamas is a terrorist organisation and there's no support from the Australian Government for that organisation or their actions. But it's a fact that we need to work towards a solution that involves the release of hostages and an eventual ceasefire. And the parties have to make judgement calls and, and judgments such as that, in our view, just move the peace process further away. They move the release of hostages further away and that's something that we don't want to see. We want to see parties come closer together to try and resolve this.
Gilbert: On the Ghost Sharks, that major announcement by the acting Prime Minister today, $1.7 billion for dozens of these autonomous submarines, basically underwater drones. This is a major step for our military, particularly our Navy. Is it something that the PM can take to the White House or New York when he meets with Donald Trump and say, look, we are doing our bit when it comes to sovereign capacity and investment in defence?
Assistant Minister: We certainly can. We've been saying for some time that we are increasing our defence expenditure. We're increasing, boosting it by $50 billion over the course of the next decade. It involves AUKUS, it involves a new surface combatant fleet and importantly important technology such as this. And I've seen firsthand the Anduril prototype for the Ghost Shark. That's very impressive technology developed by an Australian that impressed the Americans so much, Kieran, that they've invested in the company and that's a pretty good signal that they believe that this Australian technology is something that they'd like to acquire into the future. And it boosts the capacity of the Australian Defence Force in reconnaissance and surveillance and in strike capabilities into the future.
Gilbert: So in terms of the Australia-US Alliance, the Deputy Prime Minister said that this is world leading technology. Is it beyond just saying, look, we're putting more dollars into our own defence, but this is something that you can, you can have acquire, use effectively within the US Navy too?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, that's exactly right. And it comes on the back of other technology that has been developed in Australia like the Ghost Bat, which is a flight drone that Australia's developed that the US is interested in acquiring. And I think that this notion of the amount of expenditure per GDP, I think we need to get away from that and look at what is the capability that we need, need to defend Australia. And the Defence Strategic Review laid out what that capability that we need is. And this is a good example of us seeing what the Defence Strategic Review recommended and delivering that. And that's the important thing. I think that we're a government that delivers on the priorities identified by the Defence Strategic Review to boost the capability of the Australian Defence Force. And we've done it so well that we've impressed the United States military and they're investing in this technology as well.
Gilbert: Thank you, Assistant Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite. Thank you for your time. We appreciate that.
Assistant Minister: Thanks, Kieran.