TRANSCRIPT – PRESS CONFERENCE, DARWIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2025

E&OE TRANSCRIPT

PRESS CONFERENCE, DARWIN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2025

SUBJECTS: Operation LUNAR, New Helicopter Asset, Re-establishing an arrangement with Indigenous Rangers.

LUKE GOSLING: Good morning everyone, and welcome out to a really special announcement here at Darwin Airport. We're really proud of the role that we play in the defence of our country, and the security of our borders.

My name is Luke Gosling, I'm the Federal Member for Darwin and Palmerston, the Seat of Solomon, but also the Special Envoy for Defence, Veterans and Northern Australia. So the security of Australia and the defence of Australia is always top of my mind, and that's one of the things that makes today so special to me, but also to my colleague, we've got Marion Scrymgour here, the Member for Lingiari, and most of the 10,000 kilometres of coastline in the Northern Territory is in Marion's electorate, and she'll speak in a short while.

And Marion and I are both ecstatic, very happy always to see Federal Ministers up here in the north, particularly our friend, Tony Burke, who's the Minister for Home Affairs. Not only is Tony a great bloke, that has been confirmed by the President of Timor‑Leste that caught up with him in Timor yesterday, but he's the right guy for this job at this point in time, and having travelled to Indonesia and Timor‑Leste recently, our relationships in the region are in extremely good hands, as is the Australian Border Force.

It's fantastic to have members of the Australian Border Force here, Rear Admiral Brett Sonter from the Navy, but also running Maritime Border Command, and his colleague, Tracie Griffin, a Territorian, who is the leader, the commander of Operation LUNAR.

Operation LUNAR is the ABF‑led operation that is ensuring that our borders are secure up here in the north. I want to thank all the members of the ABF. It is ABF‑led, this operation, but obviously working with the Australian Defence Force and other law enforcement agencies to make sure that we can really clamp down and, and we are, on illegal fishing in our northern borders, and other illegal activities as well, including unauthorised vessels that are coming into our waters.

For so many reasons that I don't need to explain, we need to make sure that our borders are secure and we are doing that, that's what Operation LUNAR is about, and today, as the Minister will let us know, we've got an important addition to the assets that we've got to make sure that we can react when we get that intelligence in about unauthorised fishing, because it is not only a threat to our border security, but a threat to the security and sovereignty of our borders.

So I just want to thank Australian Border Command, Australian Border Force, and it's my great pleasure to introduce our Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke.

TONY BURKE: Thanks so much, Luke, a real pleasure to be here with you today for what is the formal launch of Operation LUNAR. Today as part of the cooperation that Operation LUNAR requires I've met with the Northern Territory Government in the Deputy Chief Minister, Maley, together with the Police Commissioner, Michael Murphy.

I've also had a long meeting today and very successful meeting with the Northern Land Council, with Matthew Ryan, the Chair, Yuseph Deen, the CEO, and Paul Donohue.

This is about bringing together all the partnership that's required to make sure that Operation LUNAR works. If I explain first of all what we have modelled it on. People would be aware that off the Northwest Coast of Australia outside what's called the MoU Box, a whole lot of fishers started leaving the MoU Box where they're allowed to fish and starting to fish in our waters. For that reason Australia and Australian Border Force launched Operation LEEDSTRUM.

Operation LEEDSTRUM has been an extraordinary success. In just its first 12 months we have cut the number of illegal fishers by 50 per cent. I want to make sure that we have that sort of impact straight away to be able to stop the illegal fishing in and on Northern Territory before it gets any sort of head of steam.

The only reason that any of the fishers are trying their luck here is because of the success of Operation LEEDSTRUM. Because we have made clear that that pathway is closed, some fishers are trying their luck and are trying their luck in the Northern Territory.

What the launch of Operation LUNAR says to those fishers is, "You're going to have no luck here". It says to them, "This pathway is closed". The different risks, including the risks that Luke Gosling has just gone through, illegal fishing is often the same vessel where people smugglers will operate as well.

There are as well as the loss of fish stocks, in particular trepang, you also have the ongoing biosecurity risks which the Deputy Chief Minister was raising his concern with me today on that as well.

So Operation LUNAR is about saying what are all the tools we can bring together to make sure that we stop this illegal trade in its tracks. That means the same sort of resources that were available to Operation LEEDSTRUM now find their way to the Northern Territory. It means there's a new asset which I'm happy to announce today, there is now a helicopter devoted to Operation LUNAR for the very simple reason, you know, we're talking about more than 10,000 kilometres of coastline, we're talking about more than 887 islands and if you have a flight going overhead, if people are choosing to hide in mangroves, you don't always have a clear line of sight. Helicopters can get a line of sight where planes often would find difficult.

This new asset makes us better able to ensure that the sorts of protections that are expected by the Northern Territory are going to be delivered by Operation LUNAR.

As well as that though, we have people already on the ground who have a history of helping with border protection, and that's our Indigenous rangers. For reasons I don't quite understand, in 2017, the relationship with Indigenous rangers that had been a formal relationship with the Commonwealth was allowed to lapse.

In our meetings with the Northern Land Council today we're making clear that we want to re‑establish an arrangement with the Indigenous ranger groups across the Northern Territory. Some of those operate through the Northern Land Council, some of them operate through other Land Councils, some of them operate independently. We'll be working with all of them and consulting with all of them to find a pathway that works for those ranger groups.

But let's face it, no one knows that sea country better than those rangers. They used to be directly helping Border Force, and now we're wanting to start that relationship again.

What does all this mean? It means Australian fisheries can be dedicated to Australian fishers. It means that our immigration system is very strictly limited to people who have visas. It means that our biosecurity points, the biosecurity Australia checks are the places where the biosecurity checks are done, not with people thinking they can just rock up with any sort of vessel. We know this works.

Anybody who claims that our borders are somehow open is lying. Some people have been lying and trying to open up a pathway to the Northern Territory. Operation LUNAR makes it very clear that pathway is closed.

I'd invite the commander of Operation LUNAR, Tracie Griffin, to say a few words, and after that, I'll invite Marion Scrymgour, the Member for Lingiari to say a few words as well.

TRACIE GRIFFIN: Thank you, Minister. So as of 21 January the ABF has intercepted 20 foreign fishing vessels off the NT under Operation LUNAR, seizing more than seven tonnes of sea cucumber, over 500 kilograms of other catch and two tonnes of salt used to preserve that catch.

We are sending a strong message to those who seek to exploit our natural resources. Australia will not tolerate illegal activity in our maritime domain. We will intercept you, and you will lose your catch, your equipment and possibly your vessel.

As the Minister has advised, we have a new capability as part of Operation LUNAR, which is a helicopter. This will enable us to go out and engage with remote communities that are currently inaccessible by road.

We've been working with the Northern Land Council in organising some community Town Hall meetings to talk about illegal foreign fishing and how they can report illegal foreign fishers.

It's important for Territorians to know that the ABF will maintain its decisive enforcement actions and continue to build a capacity in the Northern Territory for as long as necessary to combat illegal foreign fishing.

Anyone with information about suspicious activity that may impact the security of Australian borders is urged to contact Border Watch online. I'll just hand over to Marion.

MARION SCRYMGOUR: Thank you, Tracie, and thank you Minister and our fabulous Member for Solomon.

Look, this has been a long‑standing issue that ‑ and I was just reflecting to the Minister, I think it was 2003 when I was in the Northern Territory Parliament calling on the Federal Government and the Northern Territory Government to work with Aboriginal people, particularly in terms of, as the Minister pointed out, 10,000 kilometres of sea country.

So it is important, today is really important, and I'm so happy that we've got one of the Land Councils at the table, we still need to get both Tiwi and Anindilyakwa, Northern Land Council owns part of the waterway, but the Tiwi Islands is closer to Indonesia, and I think that would be really good to have their rangers and that Land Council at the table as well.

So, look, I think today is fantastic. I've said this to the Minister, I think it's really important, because when we talk about economic development, when we talk about environmental issues that are facing our communities, this needs to be where it happens, that Aboriginal people, in terms of economic development, those waterways need to be pristine and clean so that they can be allowed to develop enterprises and enjoy the riches of their water.

But when you've got these incursions, that creates big problems, so I want to thank the Navy. I want to thank the Border Force, everyone that's involved, and it is great that the Northern Land Council and all the Land Councils are at the table, because this will create, you know, economic development, but also go some way towards protecting the environment, particularly in the water. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: Could I ask the Minister, how much extra in terms of funding is going into Operation LUNAR and for how long?

BURKE: What's happening with Operation LUNAR, it's additional resources, but we don't give out the different amounts that are used operation by operation. But the model is what matters, and the model is to take what has worked with Operation LEEDSTRUM and to now make that available in the Northern Territory.

The issue for how long, obviously we want to be able to break the back of this illegal trade, and, but I don't want to make the mistake that I think was made in 2017, which is when you managed to stop illegal fishing in a particular area, you then stopped the engagement with the local rangers.

I think we want to make sure we are always [indistinct] and that those relationships are always tight and are always strong. So as we work with the different Land Councils and with the different ranger groups, the Government's disposition is we want to have a partnership that's enduring.

JOURNALIST: The rangers are really looking for extra support and money to make sure that they can do more patrols, and they've got better equipment to intercept these boats as well. Is there any chance of that, and how much money could they expect to get from this Government?

BURKE: That's the nature of the conversation that we're having, and we're in a serious process of co‑design, so I don't want this to be something where I say this is the envelope ‑ I'll just wait for a moment. We're in a serious process of co‑design and we'll be making sure, as this Government always does, that resources that are needed to be able to protect our borders are resourced [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: And is this becoming more of a political problem for the Government at the moment, it's really been a concern of remote people, but I mean this is becoming more of a political problem nationally for the Government that these arrivals first were happening in the Kimberley, now in the Territory.

BURKE: I've been asked about the politics. Uniformed officers might not want to be in the frame of this answer. There are only three groups of people who claim the borders are open, Liberals, Nationals and people smugglers. It's a message that is not in the national interest, it's a message that people smugglers love to be able to get out, and why my political opponents are serving to help with that messaging is absolutely beyond belief.

I've just given the facts in terms of Operation LEEDSTRUM where we've seen a (indistinct) cut in a year in illegal foreign fishing, that means we have a smaller group of people who are testing our resolve, and they too will find that they are intercepted, they too will find on many occasions that their boats are destroyed.

There has still, for about a decade now, not been a single successful people smuggling venture to Australia, not one. They weren't successful under the previous government, they have not been successful under this Government, and they won't be successful.

My principal concern with the politics, is when people send out political messaging that is effectively feeding people smuggling operations. I don't think it's smart, and I would expect the Opposition to be well‑minded to be a bit more patriotic than to play those sorts of games in a way that is clearly against the security of Australia's borders.

JOURNALIST: We often see that temporary operations devoted to particular things, but then, and when that effort ends, basically the problems reoccur. I mean is there any guarantee to those communities that it won't just be for a wee while while the spotlight is on this and then the effort just drops off again?

BURKE: Well, they're dealing with a government now that wants to engage and wants to have a lasting partnership with the rangers. You might have a look at who held my portfolio in 2017 to see Peter Dutton's record, and to see what his approach was, which was to end those partnerships.

My view is that partnerships should be enduring. You never have a day where you say we no longer need a Police Force. I don't understand why there was ever a day where the previous government decided we no longer needed to engage with the rangers to be able to be getting the best intelligence and the best support on protecting our borders.

JOURNALIST: You've re‑established those former relationships now with those communities, is there going to be funding resources devoted to those communities?

BURKE: There will have to be resources, there will have to be initial resources. The nature of those resources and exactly how that is put together is something that's part of co‑design, and I think the ‑ I want the groups to have a level of agency, different groups have different levels of capacity right now, and it would be completely against the concept partnership if unilaterally the Government just said, "This is what's happening".

The co‑design conversations are happening. Some of the groups we haven't engaged with yet, but I'm making clear today that conversations have started, we're wanting to lean in, we're wanting that partnership to be lasting, and I'm pretty disgusted that Peter Dutton ever thought he could end that partnership, you know, whenever you decide that you're going to have a section where you stop patrolling and you stop providing resources, there will come a time when bad actors work that out we've made that decision. It's not a [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: In terms of resources and funding, do you have a deadline as to when you'd like to sort of table that to those communities, or ‑‑

BURKE: I expect different communities will be up and running in different timelines, but we have a problem now, and the nature of engagement with these different communities is usually you need to make sure you approach professionally, respectfully, and as partners, and they're decisions that made together.

JOURNALIST: Are you trying to encourage the authorities to do more deterrent activities ‑ over the COVID time boats were generally being turned back ‑ are you encouraging the authorities to actually burn those boats, [indistinct] and take people into detention here?

BURKE: Oh, we turn boats back, we turn boats back, be in no doubt. We turn boats back. People who try to test our resolve, we make sure that the pathway's not going to be 100 per cent predictable for them. Some of them get turned back, some of them get arrested, some of them have their boats destroyed. The one thing that they should know is guaranteed is a people smuggling operation will get nowhere, and they also need to know that whatever they catch they're not going to get to keep. They are wasting their time, and Operation LUNAR is the loudest message we can send to them, that they need to know the pathway to the Northern Territory is closed.

JOURNALIST: What work are you doing with Indonesia to try and stop the push factor, because we can deter all we like, but if people are desperate to try to come, that's very hard.

BURKE: I haven't been in the portfolio for long. In that time I've made two trips to Indonesia, the first one, the day I was sworn in to the Home Affairs portfolio, I was in Indonesia meeting my counterpart that night. Last year I went and met and visited the chain of government with my new counterpart. The relationship with Indonesia is strong, the partnership is strong, and they have a similar commitment to us, in being able to stop all of this, and [indistinct]. 

ENDS