Transcript | ABC News Breakfast | 08 July 2026

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JAMES GLENDAY: Well,it is now time to talk federal politics and we're joined by the Shadow DefenceMinister James Paterson who is in Melbourne. James, welcome back to ourshow. 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Goodmorning, James. 

JAMES GLENDAY: Canwe just start with what we saw in the Pacific this week. Were you at allsurprised that China decided to carry out this missile test while our own PrimeMinister was visiting the Pacific? And do you think the two things were linkedat all? 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: LookI'm not surprised that China is engaging in these kinds of military testsbecause they have a rapidly expanding and very sophisticated militarycapability and a government like the Chinese government wants to demonstratethat capability to the rest of the world, to send a very strong message, andalso to practice so their military is capable of firing weapons like these ifthey ever had to in a real conflict. I don't think it was directly linked tothe Prime Minister's travel to the Pacific because exercises like these takeweeks or months to prepare but I certainly think its choice of location totarget where the missile landed, which was deep in the South West Pacific,close to a number of Pacific Islands, was not accidental. The PRC is trying tointimidate the Pacific to send a very strong message that it is capable ofdoing them harm and I think it's critically important that we speak with a verystrong voice in return. 

JAMES GLENDAY: Youhave a lot of connections in the intelligence community. Do we have thecapability to track and monitor these tests? Perhaps from a place like Pine Gapnear Alice Springs?

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Yeswe do have a good capability to track naval task groups like the naval taskgroup that fired this ballistic missile and then to track the trajectory of aballistic missile as it travels in our region. My concern is that Australiadoes not have adequate integrated air and missile defence to intercept aballistic missile like this if it was coming in our direction or if we judgedit was going to hit an allied or friendly country and we wanted to interceptit. We haven't been spending enough and we're not moving fast enough on thingslike air and missile defence. And this is another reminder we are living in anage of missiles and drones as the war in Ukraine and the war in Iran has alsoshown us and Australia really needs to step up and invest in the capabilitieswe need to defend ourselves in this period. 

JAMES GLENDAY: Thatwas going to be my next question, because there just has been so much debateabout, of course, submarines, which are going to be way out into the future,but this is the here and now. We live in an increasingly uncertain world. Soapart from air defence systems, what sort of things do you think that Australianeeds to be building, if not now, at least in the next couple of years? 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Wella nuclear-propelled submarine, a Virginia-class submarine, is actually one ofthe most potent capabilities for hunting other submarines and the purpose ofAustralia having a capability like that is to cause doubt in the minds of apotential adversary to deter them from doing things exactly like this. If aforeign military is contemplating launching a ballistic missile towardsAustralia from a submarine as this one was, they should know that we've got thecapability to find and track and deal with that submarine in that instance. Butyou're right, Virginia-class submarines won't arrive until the 2030sso there are things that we must do now. I would put at the top of that listair and missile defence. We have no ground-based air and missile defence inAustralia. We would have to rely on our Hobart class destroyers, our airwarfare destroyers, to intercept it if they happen to be in the right place atthe right time. We're a vast continent and we don't have enough defences forthat. The other thing we should be doing more of, which we have been doing someof, is investing in upgrading our defence facilities and our criticalinfrastructure to withstand attacks like this. We've hardened many of ournorthern bases but we need to do even more. 

JAMES GLENDAY: James,I just want to quickly read some breaking news we're getting in from Telstra. Anumber of our viewers this morning have had some issues with their phones.Telstra says that it's looking into an issue affecting some mobile calls anddata connections. It says that if you're having trouble, try reconnecting. Itmight work on a retry. Telstra says it's on it and will share an update as soonas it is fixed. Now James, just to another issue that has been dominatingpolitics, particularly Victorian politics and you are a senior member of theVictorian Liberal Party, does Moira Deeming have a future in your party do youthink? 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: James,it's a fair question for you to ask, but unfortunately I'm very limited in whatI can say in response. As you know, Ms Deeming has taken court action againstthe State Executive of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party and I am amember of that State Executive, so it will be obviously inappropriate for me tocomment while that court action is pending. That's been scheduled for the 17thof July and I hope that the matter is resolved expeditiously after that. 

JAMES GLENDAY: Morebroadly, is she damaging the Liberal Party's chances of knocking off a Laborgovernment that is asking for 16 consecutive years in power? 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Sothere's no question that Victorian Labor is on the nose here in Victoria.Voters are fed up with the damage they've done to this state with theircorruption, with their incompetence, with their malfeasance. And Jess Wilson,the Victorian Liberal Leader, is on a tour right now of 88 seats across thestate, visiting Victorians where they are to hear them, to listen to them, toshare with them her plan to give Victoria a fresh start. But it's no questionthat we prefer not to have distractions like this. And Jess is laser-likefocused on providing Victorians the alternative in November so that they canget the change that they really want. 

JAMES GLENDAY: I'msure you're not going to go into it further, but many of your colleagues thinkthat this is making life very, very difficult indeed. Before I let you go, wejust mentioned it before we joined you, and I'm you saw the pictures yesterdayfrom the Bolte Bridge. Some people in Melbourne think that Pam the Bird is anartist. A number of others think that that this person is an absolute publicnuisance, causing huge damage to public property. What's your view on Pam theBird? 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Well,look, I'm never going to defend public graffiti. I don't think that's anappropriate way to do things, but I do feel the pain of the artist who iscomplaining about Victoria's high taxes. I just say to him, there are easierand safer ways to get lower taxes in Victoria. It starts with voting for theVictorian Liberals and Nationals and Jess Wilson's team in November. 

JAMES GLENDAY: Iwasn't sure how you were going to mix in politics and Pam the Bird, but you diddo it. 

SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Herewe are. 

JAMES GLENDAY: JamesPaterson, we appreciate you sticking with us and joining us this morning. 

ENDS

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