SABRA LANE: Within ten years the Federal Government wants Australia to be ranked in the world's top ten nations for global defence exports.

Today the Prime Minister's launching a defence export strategy laying out the blueprint to make that possible.

Included in that plan is a new Government loans facility providing up to $3.8 billion to help small and medium sized businesses seek new markets overseas.

The Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne will launch the strategy with the Prime Minister later today in Sydney, and he joins us now in our Sydney studio, good morning Mr Pyne.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Sabra, thank you for having me.

SABRA LANE: Just to that report that you heard first, we'll get onto your announcement in just a tick. You were a Cabinet minister at the time, how seriously was this idea considered?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well Sabra, this is a four-year-old speculative story, nothing came of it and quite frankly it's not worth commenting on.

SABRA LANE: But it was given serious consideration by the look of this document was marked "Cabinet in confidence". Did you back it? Why not?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It's a four-year-old story Sabra, the first I heard of it was when I heard it on the radio this morning.

SABRA LANE: All right. To your announcement today, how realistic is the "top 10" aim within a decade? What's Australia's current standing?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, it's very realistic and Australia has a very sophisticated defence industry, but we're not, but we've never had a Government until this one that's been determined to drive that into exports in order to grow jobs and the economy.

We already export substantial amounts of parts and platforms from the bushmaster protected vehicle, right through to the anti-ship missile decoy called the 'Nulka', as well as many parts for the joint strike fighter program, life rafts for ships etcetera - there is a veritable welter of products.

But we haven't really taken it to the next level which is to seriously compete in the world for a part of what is a $1.5 trillion part of the world economy and that's what exactly what this defence export strategy is going to allow us to do.

SABRA LANE: How many local jobs do you think this will create during a decade?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well potentially, thousands and thousands, if not tens of thousands if it's as successful as we hope it will be. And we're putting the heft behind it.

So it's $80 million over the next four years, plus a $3.8 billion export finance investment corporation loan facility. We're establishing a defence export office in the Department of Defence, defence export advocate to advocate overseas to support the work of people like myself who have already been doing that, a grants program to support smaller medium enterprises who want to export, an increased focus on trade shows and long-term campaigns, a capability program to build up the capabilities of defence industry players to export.

We are covering all bases, pardon the pun, and as a consequence I think we have every chance of success.

I've been travelling the world for 18 months and I have a very good idea of exactly where Australia sits. We have a very high reputation for quality and capability, we need to turn that into products and services.

SABRA LANE: This strategy as you've mentioned will make grants available to companies in order to help them win new markets when banks won't lend these businesses the money - why do these businesses need government support to do that?

Surely a good idea or product will be snapped up?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Not necessarily, the banks are very risk averse in Australia and in fact around the world and there are certain characteristics of the defence industry, particularly in markets like for example the Middle East and Asia where banks are not as enthusiastic to have loan facilities.

Obviously each of these, if there is a substantial contract where the export finance investment corporation can help, then they'll have to go through all the normal hoops that are required to make sure that those loans are repaid.

But sometimes banks won't even go near such an industry, whereas there's no reason why effort can't have its facilities available for defence exports.

But a large part of this is simply doing what we've never done before, which is encouraging Australian businesses to get overseas, to export their products and their services.

There are some who are doing it already, like Thales and EOS with their remote weapons systems and of course the life rafts from Tasmania. And this is a national project of course, the defence industry project, so all of Australia will benefit right across the economy.

SABRA LANE: EFIC the export agency already helps small businesses to export, to be clear how will it make its decisions on what businesses to support? For example, will be the Government be making recommendations to it?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: No, the Government's unlikely to make recommendations to EFIC. EFIC is an independent organisation. What we have done is expanded the remit of the Export Finance Investment Corporation so that there's $3.8 billion available on the national interest account, as long as it measures up with all the normal requirements for an EFIC loan.

But it gives that certainty to an Australian business person negotiating overseas with another company, or another country that should the contract be able to be landed, there is an option for loan finance in the event that that's required, often of course, it won't be.

But some of these contracts are billions of dollars. Some of them are many hundreds of millions of dollars and that's where a large Government can provide support for our exporters and that helps us with the peaks and troughs of the defence industry in Australia. This is all about ensuring we have a long-term defence industry plan.

SABRA LANE: Minister, there will be a number of people who are deeply uncomfortable with the taxpayer helping businesses to profit from war - what do you say to them?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, our primary market is New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the United States, that is where the vast majority of our effort will be placed and has been placed.

We need a strong alliances with those kinds of countries with the capabilities that we need militarily to ensure that we maintain peace in the world. I don't think anybody would question our role in places like Iraq and Syria most recently and in Afghanistan, trying to bring peace to those regions. That is what the West does to try and ensure that we have an international rules-based global system, and having strong military is very much a part of that.

SABRA LANE: Minister, just on Afghanistan, you would have been aware those attacks over the weekend, specifically the use of an ambulance as a car bomb. What does this say about the Taliban's capability and reach?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, the capability, it doesn't say very much about that; filling the ambulance with explosives and driving it into a crowded place and killing 95 people, is not exactly -

SABRA LANE: - And getting through a check zone?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: - is not exactly a highly sophisticated military action, but it just proves how wicked the Taliban are. How they have to be defeated, it just proves why Australia was there for 15 years, to drive the Taliban out and to keep them out.

And why it's important that we don't allow the Taliban to re-emerge in Afghanistan or elsewhere.

SABRA LANE: Minister, thanks for your time this morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: It's a pleasure Sabra.

SABRA LANE: The Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne.