March 5, 2026 – Canberra, Australia – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces
Yesterday, the Honourable David J. McGuinty, Minister of Defence, met with the Honourable Richard Marles, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, during his visit to Australia with Prime Minister Mark Carney.
During their meeting, the Ministers recognized the long-standing Canada-Australia defence partnership that is rooted in shared history, common values, and deep cooperation through partnerships such as the Five Eyes.
They discussed significant progress in bilateral relations over the past year and committed to exploring a more structured and strategic relationship through a Defence Ministerial Dialogue. This will include regular meetings to maintain momentum and drive tangible outcomes on defence industrial, operational, and science and technology collaboration. Ministers also committed to exploring ways to facilitate the movement of defence equipment and personnel between our two countries, removing barriers to operational collaboration by working towards a Status of Forces Agreement.
Ministers agreed to explore how best to support industrial collaboration and greater integration of our defence sectors by reducing obstacles to procurement and innovation. This could include mutually beneficial options to strengthen defence trade and industrial collaboration on advanced technologies.
With the recent release of Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, Canada is working to expand defence industrial collaboration with trusted partners like Australia to support the development and deployment of advanced capabilities at the speed of relevance.
Minister McGuinty highlighted recent progress on Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) technology collaboration with Australia. The Ministers also committed to building on this collaboration by working together to develop state-of-the-art technology and through research and development efforts to advance intellectual property on A-OTHR that will have long-term benefits for both Canadian and Australian defence industrial bases.
Who'd have thunk Australia would be our most hopeful partner in NORAD?
What else would they have talked about? Anything on our/their shopping list that may have been brought up in this meeting?