Interview with Kieran Gilbert, Sky News Newsday

Transcript, E&OE Subjects: Conflict in the Middle East; AUKUS; Australia-UK relationship; One Nation’s voting record. 12 June 2026 Kieran Gilbert, Host: Let's get some reaction from the government. The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, is with me. What do you make of this latest confidence about a deal out of the White House?

Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: G'day, Kieran. I think Australians are fed up with the stop-start nature of this war because they're paying for it through cost-of-living pressures. We're paying for it through increased petrol costs at the bowser and that's flowing through to transportation costs and particularly groceries and household items.

So, we want to see this conflict drawn to an end as quickly as possible. And we've been saying that for some time now. We've been joining with international partners and in making statements to that effect.

Whether or not we'll get an outcome, who knows? We're hoping for the best in the form of a ceasefire deal, but we're planning for the worst in the form of an ongoing conflict. And that planning involves ensuring that we have adequate fuel supplies for our commitments here in Australia and supporting Australians to try and reduce the cost-of-living pressures as much as possible.

The British Defence Secretary quits just a couple of hours before he's meant to have a public appearance with your colleague Richard Marles, the Deputy Prime Minister. It's quite a snub, isn't it? The timing, unfortunate?

Assistant Minister: Well, certainly unexpected. And it obviously resulted in the cancellation of a joint media conference that was about to take place. But it won't derail at all our nation's commitment to AUKUS and its delivery, nor will it with the UK or the United States.

Kieran, as you know, we've had, unfortunately, in Australia, history of, through successive governments, of not delivering defence projects on time and within budget. But I can tell you that this is one of the projects that is on time and is being delivered. And I think that that represents how strong the commitment is from Australia and the United States and the UK to the delivery of AUKUS.

Obviously, what goes on in the party room and in the makeup of the Cabinet in the UK is a matter for the UK government. But we'll continue to work with our UK counterparts and our US counterparts to ensure that we deliver AUKUS on time and it meets its commitments. Is this a lack of respect, though, from John Healy towards our government, our defence commitments and partnerships and alliances with the British?

Or is this simply domestic politics at play, and this has been caught up in it, unfortunately, how do you see it? Because you can see why some would see it as a show of disrespect to Mr Marles and to Australia. Assistant Minister: I don't think it's a show of disrespect.

Unfortunately, these things happen in politics sometimes. And, you know, we have Ministers, we have MPs, resigned for a whole host of reasons. That's a matter for the former UK Defence Secretary to explain.

He's issued a statement. We take that on face value, but as I said, it doesn't reduce or, you know, derail our commitment at all to the delivery of AUKUS. We're meeting all of the milestones.

We're seeing the rotation of US Marines and UK submariners working with Australians. You've got Australians that are training in the United States and doing very well in the programs that they're working on around nuclear propulsion, graduating with first class honours. And we're seeing the rollout of the infrastructure in South Australia that's required to build the AUKUS submarines.

So, it's meeting all of its timelines. We're well within the guidelines that have been set by the Parliament and we're delivering this important program. One Nation's fundraising surge up to $3 million.

The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, urging them to focus on ousting Labor members if they can coordinate, get their act together and target the government effectively. That is a pretty powerful opposition with the Coalition and One Nation combined. Assistant Minister: Well, I'm not surprised that Matt Canavan's saying that, to be honest, because I think the National Party face being wiped out.

The results of the Farrer by-election and the South Australian election indicate that one nation has certainly taken plenty of seats off the Conservatives. I don't think Australians are concerned by how much money or what that money spent on that One Nation is raising. What they are concerned about is what one nation can do to support the average Aussie battler at the moment.

That's doing it tough. And when you look at their voting record in the Parliament, they certainly don't stand up for and support Australian workers. Same job, same pay, One Nation chose to back the mining companies rather than the mining workers.

Better rights for gig economy workers, One Nation chose to back the companies rather than the workers. Better wages and conditions -- Why are workers flocking to one nation, then? Assistant Minister: Better wages and conditions for truck drivers, Kieran, One Nation didn't back the truckies, One Nation backed the companies.

Now I appreciate that, that you know that One Nation's had an increase in its polls and obviously tax reform and changes to the system are very, very tough for governments. But we believe it's the right thing to do because you've got this system now that's not working for the average Australian worker and their families. In fact, it's punishing them for working harder and trying to aspire to getting ahead.

You've got a system where tax concessions favour people who are buying and selling assets rather than workers who are working hard to earn a living. We're refocusing that system, we're changing that system to make sure that we rebalance it in favour of workers. The ironic thing, Kieran, is that it's One Nation and the Coalition that are defending the system that the Australian people are rebelling against.

You've got a massive fight ahead of you though, don't you? You know, I know that you're saying it's the National Party's existential threat for them and I understand that, but for the Labor Party, you can see this building in various places, traditionally strong Labor areas, where some of your colleagues are going to face a red hot test from this surging political outfit.

Assistant Minister: Kieran, we were, you know, people said to us that we weren't bold enough with our reforms, that we weren't tackling the big issues that were facing Australians like housing affordability, like the imbalance in the taxation system. Well, we've acted, we've listened to what Australians have had to say and we've acted. We've made some tough decisions, but we've made those decisions because they're the right thing to do by Australian workers and their families because they rebalance the system in favour of those workers who have been doing it tough and have been really disadvantaged by a system that has favoured tax concessions for people who've been able to make profits out of buying and selling assets rather than productive work.

So, yeah, it's tough, we know that, but it's the right thing to do. And I'm pretty confident that at the end of the day people will be able to see when our housing policies and our tax policies do provide that cost-of-living relief and do make housing more affordable. Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Matt Thistlethwaite, thanks.

Assistant Minister: Thanks, Kieran.