Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Technology and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, can you spell out the total value of absorbed measures that Defence is being required to take on, apart from the $5.4 billion in cuts?

Can you actually spell out exactly what programs, infrastructure or projects those absorbed measures relate to. As the most recent ASPI Cost of defence notes, the SRP is failing to meet its savings objectives in 2010-11. Could you outline why this is the case—why they are not meeting the requirements for savings. Can you also outline what the projected savings are from the SRP over the remaining life of this program. Where will they come from? Can you continue to guarantee that those savings will be reinvested in Defence. In terms of industry, Minister, has your ministry or your ministerial colleagues consulted industry regarding the latest budget cuts? Has any modelling been done on the impacts of these cuts on the industry's capacity to respond to both the downturn in work and the supposed ramp-up of work in two or three years time?

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