Remarks by Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at the Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee Joint Press Conference at Australian Parliament House on 1 May 2023

I will make some comments on defence that Deputy Prime Minister Marles made. First, let me thank Mr Marles for his kind words. We had a very productive meeting, we are very thankful for the progress we made under the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) about ten years ago. We want to thank the Labour government under Prime Minister Albanese and his Ministers here: Deputy Prime Minister Marles, Minister Penny Wong and Minister Don Farrell for supporting our training here – we have a big footprint.

Every year, thousands of our Singaporean young men doing their National Service experience your wonderful bushlands and your weather, and they go back with very fond memories. And it is only possible because of the affection that Deputy Prime Minister talked about. The affection of the officials, the affection of the people who put up with our military training – whether it is Shoalwater Bay, Pearce, or Oakey. We thank you for that.

It was also very productive because we are looking forward, with more training opportunities bilaterally, as well as for us if you allow us to train here. We understand your processes, there are some developments in the CSP that are delayed, but we respect your processes and try to be helpful wherever we can.

I want to end off by saying that another aspect that we talked about during this Ministerial Committee was of the way forward and the complex environment. And for that, we believe that Australia can play a bigger role in our region, for Australia’s vested interest is in Asia. It is an Asian country, not only just an Indo-Pacific country, but an Asian country. We would welcome Australian ships and planes through our bases, and ultimately when your submarines are ready, we would welcome them to call on our ports, we will facilitate. We believe that Australia adds to regional security in ASEAN and beyond. We look forward to these very, very positive aspects, and thank you once again for your friendship and your confidence in each other.

Question from Jonathan Pearlman (ST): Question for the Singaporean ministers. There was a comment about allowing Australian submarines through Singapore and I wonder if that would extend to nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS Agreement? And just generally, what the view from Singapore is on those nuclear-powered submarine acquisitions?

Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen: Well, you will not be the first. We have the US (United States) nuclear-powered submarines that called at Changi Naval Base.

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