Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his contribution. There are many reasons why the member for Solomon was successful at the last election. One of them, of course, is that he is a very hard worker. He was a hard campaigner and he continues that work as a good local member. Another reason for his success is the way in which he has tapped into his local defence community. He is a great champion of the cause of the men and women of the ADF. His involvement extends right through to his coaching of the local services AFL side. I know that makes him a bit of a legend in the local area. He played with that side as well—played very well, I suspect, because I saw him play in the local parliamentary side against the Australian Defence Force and he was one of our stars. He fully appreciates and understands the contribution the Australian Defence Force, its facilities and its capabilities make to his local community and the broader Northern Territory community. I expect that he will continue to fight for ongoing expansion in his local area.

I am going to keep the answer to his question as short as I can because I want to allow some time for the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel to address the issues raised by the member for Paterson with respect to our pre-election commitment to extending health services to ADF families. It is true that the Rudd Labor government will spend more money on defence in the 2008-09 year than any government in the history of Federation has ever spent on defence. A lot of that money will go, of course, to many areas and key bases across the country, including two areas in the Northern Territory.

To answer the member for Solomon’s question more specifically, the government announced in the 2008-09 budget some $88.9 million to maintain and upgrade defence facilities in the Northern Territory. The amount spent on defence estate upkeep works will be $46.2 million. Estate upkeep works provide for the ongoing maintenance of Defence’s extensive training base infrastructure. Works will continue on the upgrade of support facilities for the Armidale class patrol boats and Darwin Naval Base; $21.4 million has been allocated for major capital facilities projects at Darwin Naval Base and RAAF Darwin and $11.1 million has also been allocated for approved medium capital facilities projects in the Darwin naval fuel installation and at RAAF Darwin. So that is a very good result for the Northern Territory, in particular Darwin, and I look forward to continuing to work with the member for Solomon to keep the ADF in his local area fit, strong and healthy and to ensure that it continues to make a significant contribution.

Before I turn over to Minister Snowdon, can I say on the matter of defence family health that I do not walk away from our pre-election commitment. I will let Minister Snowdon give some of the detail, but we made a pre-election commitment in good faith. We have identified, off the back of a number of surveys, that for defence families, health is the No. 1 issue.

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