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Speaker 1: The Australian government. Well, they've enhanced their maritime capability or

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Speaker 1: we you know, for us here in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: and right across Australia with the official opening of the

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Speaker 1: new Kuru Wharf at HMAS Koona Warra here in the NT.

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Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line is the Assistant Minister

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Speaker 1: for Defense, Matt Thistlethwaite. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Thanks than Mion. It's great to be

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Speaker 2: back up here in Darwen.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to have you on. Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time. Assistant Minister. Tell us, why is this wharf needed.

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Speaker 2: We're bolstering our maritime capabilities here in Darwin and across

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Speaker 2: the North and this is a two hundred and ten

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Speaker 2: million dollar investment in a new wharf at Kuru here

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Speaker 2: at HMAS Coonawarra. It will allow us to take a

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Speaker 2: much bigger class A vessel, so we'll be able to

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Speaker 2: fit a couple of submarines, six patrol boats and even

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Speaker 2: some of the biggest destroyers. The Italian, massive Italian destroyer

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Speaker 2: that was here on the weekend was alongside here, so

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Speaker 2: we're really bolstering our maritime capabilities here in Darwin and

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Speaker 2: across the North.

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Speaker 1: And so what exactly will it mean, I guess for

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Speaker 1: our capabilities here in the North and right across Australia.

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Speaker 1: And what's sort of been involved in the in the construction.

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Speaker 2: Well, the Defense Strategic Review pointed out that we need

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Speaker 2: to invest a lot more in the North of Australia

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Speaker 2: and the government's responding to that. We're basically upgrading every

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Speaker 2: base across the North. It will be about fourteen billion

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Speaker 2: dollars worth of investment over the next decade. And this

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Speaker 2: important construction was undertaken by local contractors. Eighty percent of

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Speaker 2: the contractors that were involved were from the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Nine percent of those were indigenous businesses and it created

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Speaker 2: a couple of hundred jobs. And I can turn to

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Speaker 2: looking at the wharf right in front of me. Now

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Speaker 2: the skill and expertise involved to ensure that this fantastic

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Speaker 2: wharf in an area where you know, you get a

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Speaker 2: pretty big rise and fall in the tide has been constructed.

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Speaker 2: So it really improves our maritime capability and it's a

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Speaker 2: great representation of Darwin and the top ends contribution to

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Speaker 2: our defense force.

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Speaker 1: Now our system, Minister, we are certainly seeing you know,

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Speaker 1: the military and the Defense Force on full display at

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Speaker 1: the moment with Exercise Pitch Black underway. Have you been

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Speaker 1: out to see some of the troops and catch up

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Speaker 1: with them.

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Speaker 2: I certainly have, Katie. I spent yesterday at the Raft

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Speaker 2: base and we importantly got to see the planning that

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Speaker 2: goes into the nighttime missions that they fly, about ten

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Speaker 2: hours worth of planning. As you know, with Pitch Black

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Speaker 2: this year we've got four and a half thousand troops

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Speaker 2: from twenty different nations. It's the largest contingent ever and

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Speaker 2: six of those are new participants. And we got to

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Speaker 2: see the jet fighters o F thirty five and our

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Speaker 2: Allies jet fighters take off last night from the Raft

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Speaker 2: base and they are involved in a combat exercise from

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Speaker 2: Kindle all the way to Darwin, about twenty four different aircraft.

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Speaker 2: And importantly we've got to see the control and command,

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Speaker 2: the commns that go on with the pilots, how they

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Speaker 2: fly the mission, what the mission objective was, and it

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Speaker 2: just gives you a great respect for the Australian Defense Force.

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Speaker 2: So it really makes you feel proud of our Air

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Speaker 2: Force and our Australian Defense Force personnel.

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Speaker 1: It's actually it's been really good for us. We've had

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Speaker 1: quite a number of them come into the studio and

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Speaker 1: you know, have a chat to us about the exercise

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Speaker 1: and talk a little bit more about the work that

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Speaker 1: they do. And I think it's been really good for

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Speaker 1: the territory audience, you know, to get to know them

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Speaker 1: a bit more and see and hear that passion as

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Speaker 1: well from a lot of our defense members.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's evident in the fact that there was

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Speaker 2: twenty two thousand people down on Mindle Beach. I had

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Speaker 2: to watch the fly over thirty thousand at the Raft base. Look,

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Speaker 2: Gosling tells me that the first time he's ever in

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Speaker 2: a traffic jam in the Darlin pretty much. I think

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Speaker 2: it's a great representation of the affection that the Australian

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Speaker 2: Defense Force have for the Darwin community and the Darwin

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Speaker 2: community support for our defense force, and that's why the

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Speaker 2: government is investing so heavily in this local community. There's

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Speaker 2: also a heap of work that's going on here at

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Speaker 2: the Larakare Base as a six hundred and ten million

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Speaker 2: dollar upgrade going on here to new living accommodation, to

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Speaker 2: new mess facilities, to health facilities, and that's why We're

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Speaker 2: doing this because the North is so important. We want

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Speaker 2: to grow the defense force up here and we know

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Speaker 2: that the Darwen community is so welcoming and so supportive.

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Speaker 1: Well Matt sis Althwaite, the Assistant Minister for Defense, really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for the quick chat.

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Speaker 2: Thanks having me on Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you