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

Let me thank the member for Batman for his question. Let me say under this government there are a whole lot fewer spin doctors employed by the Department of Defence than there were previously. There are a whole lot fewer media people employed in the Department of Defence now than there were previously. There are a whole lot fewer people spinning numbers, spinning facts and spinning events.

You want to speak wrong; the member for Batman wants to speak about events and spin doctors. Let's cast our minds back to the fabled 2013 Defence white paper—a white paper now in infamy—where fighter jets and military aircraft were flown in to set a backdrop for Prime Minister Gillard and Defence Minister Smith so they would look good as they ripped $16 billion out of Defence. Not content to take the money out, Labor spent $200,000-plus on a spin campaign of fighter jets, personnel and aircraft so Labor could look good on the issue.

The member for Batman comes in and lectures us. Let this government make it very clear: we won't be lectured by Labor, not now, not never when it comes to Defence and Defence cuts.

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