Doorstop Interview – Omni Aerospace, Jandakot

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Doorstop Interview
Omni Aerospace, Jandakot 
Tuesday, 21 October 2025

SUBJECTS: PM’s Veteran Employment Awards; Aukus; China flare incident

MATT KEOGH, MINISTER FOR VETERANS’ AFFAIRS: Look, it's a great pleasure to be here at Omni today to be announcing the finalists for the Prime Minister's Veteran Employment Awards. And it's great to be here with Omni as not only a sponsor, as they said, but also a Veteran Employer of Choice through our Veteran Employment Commitment that we operate as a government as a way of identifying for veterans who are transitioning out of Defence, those employers and offer them great support and encouragement and are a place where veterans will thrive as they transition into a civilian lifestyle with through employment. We know that one of the best ways to ensure a smooth and good transition for veterans is to see them have meaningful employment when they leave their service in uniform in the Defence Force. And we are about as a government, encouraging that, showcasing that, and encouraging more employers to get into this space as well. And that's why the Prime Minister's Veteran Employment Awards are so important. They are an opportunity for us to celebrate and to showcase brilliant veteran employees, brilliant partner employees, partners of veterans, but also those great organisations that are employing veterans and providing support programs for them, providing a way for them to network and connect and to manage that transition into civilian life. Because one of the things we know about our veterans, and sometimes not as well-known across the broader community, they don't just bring those obvious skills that they've learned through the Defence Force that are related to defence work. They also bring those broader skills that any employer would like. The ability to work in a team, leadership, agility, being able to work well under pressure, something that no matter what the industry is, employers are looking for those skills and experiences that our people in uniform develop over their time in Defence and are then able to offer back to any industry, and that's what the Veteran Employment Awards are all about. This year, we've introduced three new categories to the Veteran Employment Awards to make sure that we're celebrating the breadth of employees and employers in the veteran community. Those new categories are the Best Regional Veteran Employment Commitment, the Best Veteran Employment Commitment Initiative, and also the Champion of Veteran Employment. And the Champion of Veteran Employment category is a people's choice category. It's voted on by those organisations that are members of the Veteran Employment Commitment, where they acknowledge those organisations or individuals that have really championed veteran employment within their organisation or across the broader community to provide that support for veterans. The winners of the Veteran Employment Awards will be announced on the 24th of November at a ceremony with the Prime Minister at Parliament House, making sure that we're bringing good attention and focus in celebrating and acknowledging our great veteran employees, our great veteran partner employees, and importantly, those organisations that are doing the great work in providing those wonderful employment opportunities for our veterans and for veteran partners around Australia, and that such important work that they do. And we're really looking forward to being able to celebrate that on the 24th of November, and it's great to be announcing the finalists across all nine categories today. And I'd really like to thank Omni for having us here today. They employ nearly 50 percent of their workforce as veterans, which just demonstrates what a great commitment they have, and how they can see and acknowledge the great benefit that they receive by being able to draw on those skills and experience of our veteran community in being able to support their business and also give back to our Defence and to our police and to the other organisations and businesses that they support by leveraging the skills and experience of our veteran community. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: So I wanted to start off by asking you, how important is that work that veterans are doing here at companies like Omni and in their transition from the force? How does that assist them?

MINISTER KEOGH: So one of the things that we know that is really important for veterans when they are transitioning out of time in the Defence Force and into civilian life is making sure that they have good connections and that they are able to be support themselves, to support their families, and be able to have meaningful employment. And so organisations like Omni, those that we're celebrating through the PMs Veteran Employment Awards, those organisations that really provide all of those opportunities, it's how we know that when a veteran is able to leave the Defence Force and go into employment, that they have the best chance of success in that transition.

JOURNALIST: And as a Minister in this area, what do you hear from veterans themselves about how this assistance in transition, as you were mentioning there, those important things, how that helps them and their families?

MINISTER KEOGH: Certainly, what we've heard from veterans, in fact we were just having a discussion just before, is that the work that Defence can do with veterans in supporting them to understand how the skills and experience that they have developed over their time in service can translate into the civilian world, whether it's in defence industry or a completely different area of work. Helping them understand how to translate that so that they know that the best role and the best fit for them to pursue. It's incredibly important to making sure not only that they get a job, but they get a job that really suits them and sets them up for success in the future.

JOURNALIST: And you're here today talking about the Employment Awards. I think you mentioned nine categories. What are some of the achievements or the work that's being acknowledged by these finalists? Can you explain that to us?

MINISTER KEOGH: So some of the things that are being acknowledged and celebrated in those awards are where organisations have identified great veteran employees that have made a real difference to their business in the skills that they've brought into their business as a veteran, and that they have been a wonderful employee. And they want to highlight that and celebrate that. And we do the same with veteran partners as well. One of the things that we know about Defence partners and veteran partners is that they are the category of the most highly skilled and underemployed people in Australia, because they also have to often move frequently around with base transfers and everything else that occur in Defence life and that affects partners. So we want to celebrate those employers that support veteran partner employment, as well as veteran employment, also acknowledge those veteran partners that make great employees the contribution that they are making. Quite often these employees are also doing great work in supporting other veterans in their workplace, and that's really important. But especially being able to acknowledge those employers that don't just offer a job, they offer the opportunity of connection, network across a group of veteran employees within their organisation that are putting themselves out there. Like Omni, who is a veteran Employer of Choice under our Veteran Employment Commitment that say we really encourage you to come to us as a veteran.

JOURNALIST: And you're talking here today from Perth. Do you think there's been sufficient opportunities for veterans in WA to get this kind of work? As you mentioned, Omni employs nearly 50 percent of their workforce being veterans. How do you think it fares for people in WA?

MINISTER KEOGH: So here in Western Australia, we've got two really great things going for veteran employment. One of those is the obvious one, which is defence industry, which is a rapidly growing industry here in Western Australia. And with the expansion work that's going to be going on down at the Henderson marine precinct and with Aukus sustainment work that will be happening here in Western Australia, defence industry will become the second biggest industry in Western Australia. But on top of that, we also have the resources industry, which is a great employer of our veteran community. And veterans are able to bring highly transferable skills into working into the resources industry as well. So there's brilliant opportunity here in Western Australia for veteran employment and veteran partner employment as well. But there's all sorts of different industries here in WA that we see veterans going into after they leave Defence.

JOURNALIST: And I wanted to ask you as well some questions of the day. You just just mentioned Aukus there. Overnight there was that meeting between Anthony Albanese and President Trump, and Mr. Trump made a renewed commitment to the Aukus partnership. What do you make of this news?

MINISTER KEOGH: I think what we saw in the comments from President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese in their meeting in Washington overnight is the continued commitment between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom to the Aukus project because it's in the interests of all three countries. It's in the interests of all three countries’ national security. It's also in the interests of our capacity to develop capability in all three of our countries. And we see that in the way in which Australia is contributing to the supply chain in the United States and their industrial development, as well as the technology transfer we get here in Australia, and the bringing on of the nuclear propelled submarine capability, as well as all the work that's happening in technological development across all three countries through the investments in the Aukus pillar two arrangements.

JOURNALIST: And how key is that renewed commitment from the meeting overnight, as you mentioned there in Washington, particularly for WA. Because we know that the state has quite a big involvement in this deal.

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, we've been working tirelessly as a government to make sure that we hit and we have been hitting all of the important milestones in delivering on the Aukus project, working together with the United States and the United Kingdom. Western Australia is going to be a huge beneficiary of the Aukus project, because the nuclear propelled submarines will be based here in Western Australia. And that means not just that fleet of submarines, but it means also all of the support work and the industry and sustainment that will go into supporting those submarines will be here in Western Australia as well. So there's great benefit from our national security posture, but there's also amazing benefit in terms of our industrial development and the job opportunities that come with that here in WA.

JOURNALIST: And as Minister for Defence Personnel, we know that a Chinese jet fighter released flares close to an Australian surveillance plane in the South China Sea. What's your reaction to this incident?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, we've been very clear with China that that's not professional or acceptable behavior in that area or in any area, frankly. And we've been very clear with China about that when it's occurred in the past and when it's occurred today or yesterday. 

JOURNALIST: And what do you make of China's response to this incident?

MINISTER KEOGH: Well, we've always been very clear about our position on the South China Sea. That is international water and that it's not something that we, that we've for a very long time, exercised the right of both maritime and aerial navigation through that area, and will continue to do so. And we don't regard it as appropriate behaviour that we've seen exhibited there. It's unprofessional, it's unsafe, and we've made that very clear.

JOURNALIST: And we know it's one of a few encounters going forward. Does this alarm you at all?

MINISTER KEOGH: It's always concerning when we see activity occur that can put our Defence personnel at risk. And that's why we take this incredibly seriously, and that's why we've raised those concerns with the Chinese. We want to make sure that we're able to undertake the exercises and operations that we undertake safely and appropriately in accordance with international law, which is what we do. We expect the same from other countries around the world.
 

Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling provides 24/7 free confidential crisis support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families on 1800 011 046 or the Open Arms website. Safe Zone Support provides anonymous counselling on 1800 142 072. Defence All-Hours Support Line provides support for ADF personnel on 1800 628 036 or the Defence Health Portal. Defence Member and Family Helpline provides support for Defence families on 1800 624 608