Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move the following motion:

That the House:

(1) notes that the Minister for Defence:

(a) that the Minister for Defence promised on 8 May 2013 that the coalition would deliver those submarines from right here at ASC South Australia. The coalition today has committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide—

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bass!

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion goes on:

and then broke that promise worth $20 billion.

(b) cut the real pay, Christmas and recreation leave for Australia's Defence men and women—

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton will desist!

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion goes on:

(c) insulted the highly skilled and dedicated workers at ASC on 25 November 2014 by saying he "did not trust them to build a canoe";

(2) calls on the Prime Minister to immediately attend the House and confirm:

(a) why he has failed to direct the Minister for Defence to withdraw his insulting remarks; and

(b) whether he retains full confidence in the Minister for Defence; and

(3) should the Prime Minister fail to attend the House, that the House:

(a) condemns the Prime Minister for his failure to stand up for Australia’s Defence personnel; and

(b) calls on the Prime Minister to sack the Minister for Defence.

Leave not granted.

I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the honourable Leader of the Opposition from moving the following motion forthwith—

That the House:

(1) notes that the Minister for Defence:

(a) promised on 8 May 2013 that the Coalition "will deliver those submarines from right here at ASC in South Australia. The Coalition today is committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide.", and then broke that promise worth $20 billion;

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Bass will remove himself under standing order 94(a)!

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

And you as well. The member for Isaacs and the member for Bass will both go under 94(a)!

The member for Bass then left the chamber.

The member for Isaacs then left the chamber.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The motion continues:

(b) cut the real pay, Christmas and recreation leave for Australia's Defence men and women; and

(c) insulted the highly skilled and dedicated workers at ASC on 25 November 2014 by saying he "did not trust them to build a canoe";

(2) calls on the Prime Minister to immediately attend the House and confirm:

(a) why he has failed to direct the Minister for Defence to withdraw his insulting remarks; and

(b) whether he retains full confidence in the Minister for Defence; and

(3) should the Prime Minister fail to attend the House, that the House:

(a) condemns the Prime Minister for his failure to stand up for Australia’s Defence personnel; and

(b) calls on the Prime Minister to sack the Minister for Defence.

These are most important matters which do need to be debated by the House. We have seen chronic underperformance in the Defence portfolio since this government was elected. We have seen this government systemically undermine security by trashing confidence in our platforms and capacity; undermine the reputation of Australian industry and the economy more widely; and destroy the morale of the Royal Australian Navy and their confidence in their ships and submarines.

The comments by the Minister for Defence will affect recruitment and retention in the Navy. It is—not that the government would care about it—a shocking insult to the thousands of Australian men and women working at the Australian Submarine Corporation. Indeed, this is part of the consistent record of incompetence and intemperance that we see from this minister. Does the defence minister still have the Prime Minister's confidence?

This motion should be debated. After the defence minister's bombshell yesterday, where he trashed the reputation of our submarine builder, we saw the Prime Minister last night issue a startling repudiation of the Minister for Defence's comments. But does this hapless defence minister realise the hot water he is in? Not at all. That reflects his general lack of awareness of his portfolio. But this morning the opposition are saying: if the government want to draw a line under this Defence confusion, this melee, then the Prime Minister should come in and simply say those magic words which every minister on the ropes, every minister cut adrift, has desperately wanted to hear from their leader: 'I have full confidence in the minister.' There is deafening silence. The Minister for Defence has been abandoned by his government—but there are good reasons why the Minister for Defence should be abandoned by his government.

Let us have a look at the last 15 months of chronic failure. This is a government who has let Australia's defence capacity down. There has been no progress on the Land 400 project to replace our armoured vehicles. The SEA 1000 Future Submarine is an absolute debacle, where we see decisions made about where we spend billions of dollars—

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move that the speaker no longer be heard.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Before the question is put, given that the minister just moved that the Speaker be no longer heard, I suggest he might have wanted to move that the member be no longer heard. The consequences of that resolution even I would say would be bad for proceedings.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade and Investment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the member be no longer heard.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Will those on my left be silent. You could not even be silent to listen to your own leader. It was difficult to hear what he was saying.

Opposition members interjecting—

It was the funniest sounding applause I have ever heard. The question is that the member be no longer heard.

Is the motion seconded?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. Rather than defend the Defence minister the government have decided they would rather shut down debate. We have given them the opportunity today for the Prime Minister to come into this chamber and decide whether or not they have a Defence minister worth defending. One by one, they have all lined up and said, 'No'. They would rather not have the debate. They would rather not have the discussion or be forced into a situation where someone on that side has to claim, 'We have a fit and proper person in the Defence portfolio.' Last night, the Prime Minister of Australia hung his own defence minister out to dry. We had the member for Mayo going out as a member of the executive, completely disowning the comments of the Minister for Defence. We have Senator Birmingham completely disowning the comments of the Minister for Defence. We have the Prime Minister, in a statement, distancing himself from it. This is now a test of leadership for the Prime Minister of Australia. Either he backs his defence minister or he backs his federal Liberal MPs. The Prime Minister, if he has no confidence in the defence minister, should accept the challenge to get rid of his defence minister.

Just think: we have a defence minister showing no confidence at all in Australia's capacity to build our own submarines, with everything that means—and the defence that he put up on radio this morning! I never thought I would hear a defence minister for our nation use this line:

That was a rhetorical flourish that I don't want to be taken literally.

The Minister for Defence on radio said to Australia and to the world, 'Please do not take me seriously.' He has also apologised to the South Australian opposition leader, Stephen Marshall, saying:

I'm happy to apologise if he is offended by this …

When he was told that some of his colleagues want his job, that they could do a better job, he said, 'Of course everybody would say that.'

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, they would. Yes, they would—because of all the people, of all the jobs where somebody might be a situation where you would think they would be backing in—

An honourable member interjecting—

I have just been told, just while people were starting to vote, that there is apparently a reason why the Leader of the House was late—although he did get to the chamber in time. He was apparently in a radio interview and he was asked to express confidence in the defence minister in that radio interview. He did not take the opportunity.

Opposition members interjecting—

He did not take the opportunity to express confidence in the defence minister. No doubt he is working on a petition right now to work out what should happen to the defence minister.

We have the embarrassment of a government in chaos in front of us now. Of all the portfolios where you cannot afford chaos, it should be that of the defence of the nation. It should be the defence minister. We have a very happy, smiling pretender here at the table right now, seeing opportunity right in front of him. But there is no opportunity here for the Australian Defence Force if there is a defence minister who no-one has any confidence in. There is no opportunity for the people of South Australia if our own workers are being bagged and having their work put down by the defence minister of Australia.

On 22 October the defence minister did not attend the national security meeting of cabinet. When asked why, he told a Senate estimates hearing that the reason he had not attended was: 'I was not going to add too much to what was going to inform the National Security Committee.'

Opposition members interjecting—

Even the defence minister knows he has nothing to offer. Liberal MPs know he has nothing to offer.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those on my left should give respect to their own speaker.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister of Australia refuses to back him in and yet no-one has the courage to say to the defence minister, 'It is time to move on. 'This is a government that has gone for something in the order of 250 days since we have had an Assistant Treasurer. Now we discover we have a defence minister who they do not want either. The Prime Minister should be called into the chamber now. The Prime Minister should come into the chamber and make clear whether or not this defence minister is going to stay or whether Australia is going to have the humiliation of a defence minister no-one will defend. (Time expired)

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, this is rich, isn't it? This is extraordinarily rich.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind those on my left that the same rules apply with regard to behaviour being disorderly as applies during question time. We will have some silence while we hear the speakers.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If there was ever a shiny example of a whitewashed tomb and hypocrisy, it is this. Not content with handing over to our government a situation where $16 billion was ripped out of Defence, the Labor Party had a revolving door of three Defence ministers. The first one Labor took into power was described as an electrician in a suit.

Not content with taking levels of Defence funding as a proportion of GDP to levels not seen since 1938, not content with reducing project-spending capability—the Labor Party impacted 46 per cent of all projects through their cuts—and not content with having 14 ministerial reshuffles over their six moribund years in parliament, the Labor Party comes in this morning to cry foul. Seriously, are you kidding the nation?

The legacy that Labor left when it comes to defence should have their heads hanging in shame. A 2009 white paper went completely and utterly unfunded. Capability was thrown to the winds. At the height of what the Labor Party was doing in Defence, capability spending as a proportion of the total budget was a mere 18 per cent. That is absolutely and utterly appalling.

This is the party that decided to cut counter-IED phase 2 funding whilst we were doing combat operations in Afghanistan. And this party has the hide, the temerity and the audacity to come in and lecture this government about how defence is done. This is the first year in seven years when Defence funding has been stable—$3.9 billion more in Defence funding has been provided, in macro terms, this year than the previous year.

Defence funding as a proportion of GDP is 1.8 per cent this year. What was it under the Labor Party? It was 1.56 per cent—the lowest level since 1938. I do not think that any of those opposite were born prior to 1938, which means that there is no-one on the other side that has seen Defence funding drop to such a low level under their watch.

With that as a background—as a history; as a stinking, rotten carcase sitting over the shoulders of the Labor Party—they walk in here and have the temerity to lecture this government on exactly how defence should be managed. Let's look through the history of exactly what the Labor Party did in government. The then Prime Minister—the ultimate minister when it comes to national security—Prime Minister Gillard, could not be bothered attending the National Security Committee of cabinet. Who did she send? She sent her bodyguard. That is how the Labor Party treats defence. Their Prime Minister sent her bodyguard along to the National Security Committee of cabinet.

What did Prime Minister Rudd do? Let's look at the consistency of the Labor Party. Prime Minister Rudd sent an adviser to the National Security Committee of cabinet. That is the extent to which the Labor Party treats the National Security Committee. It is simply extraordinary.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Charlton will desist.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Defence minister has made it very clear this morning, in terms of rhetorical flourish in his comments regarding submarines.

Dr Chalmers interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Rankin will desist.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He has made it very clear. He has been very open. He has been very honest, as you would expect a competent minister to be.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney will desist.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He has been extraordinarily honest in terms of his comments.

We all know that the submarine process has at least six months to go. Why does it still have six months to go? Because for six, long, horrid, wintry years, the Labor Party made zero decisions on submarines. Zero decisions were made on our submarine capability—to the point where we are facing a very real capability gap. The Labor Party refused to make a call on the next generation submarine and now demand that we as a government clean up all of their mistakes. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. It is no wonder we were forced to shut down the Leader of the Opposition. Not even his own side could sit quietly and believe what he had to say. It is extraordinary.

Let us look at the other failures of the Labor Party when it comes to defence—because the failure is extraordinary. We saw everything from a white paper that was not funded to defence capability plans that were not approved. We saw everything from Labor saying they would index DFRDB pensions and failing to do so through to reducing our forces to impotence. The Labor Party are especially good at spin, but—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has elapsed. The question is that the Leader of the Opposition's motion be agreed to.