Rep. Courtney Readout of Meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Marles and Chief of the Royal Australian Navy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) issued the following statement after his meeting yesterday with Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Richard Marles, and Chief of the Royal Australian Navy, Mark Hammond. 

“It was a pleasure to host Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond on Capitol Hill to discuss our nations’ work to execute the AUKUS mission. The leaders shared their ongoing efforts to dramatically increase Australia’s submarine industrial base capability to fully partner with the United States and the UK in their joint effort to rebalance the security environment in the Indo-Pacific. We discussed efforts by the U.S. Congress to reciprocate the Australian Parliament’s strong bipartisan commitment to enable AUKUS. As Ranking Member of the Seapower Subcommittee, which has been at the epicenter of the effort to incorporate AUKUS authorities in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, this meeting reenforced the determination of both Deputy Prime Minister Marles’ efforts to enable AUKUS in the Canberra Parliament as well as our Subcommittee’s work. Finally, the visit today, just days after Prime Minister Albanese’s official state visit, underscores Australia’s clear-eyed understanding of the U.S. Congress’ critical role in executing AUKUS and preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

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