Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor governments delayed 119 Defence projects, degraded 43 and cancelled eight. Contrary to that approach, we are getting on with the job and providing the certainty that Australia's defence industry lost under Labor.

Labor sat on its hands when it came to the Future Submarine Program. Despite including future submarines in their 2009 white paper, they did nothing at all for six years in government. They delayed the project and announced they would not make a decision until after the 2013 election. Labor failed to commission a single naval vessel from any Australian yard during their entire time in office. They failed to make the decisions needed to avoid the valley of death in our shipbuilding industry.

We are getting on with the job. We are playing catch-up after years of Labor neglect. Our commitment is to support our economy in transition from the mining construction boom. It will promote more jobs and greater growth. It will promote innovation. Three hundred thousand new jobs were added to our economy in the last 12 months. The growth figures I mentioned a moment ago demonstrate that there is confidence and growth in our national economy. The defence white paper and the commitments made therein will ensure that we have a strong defence industry, unlike the way in which Labor neglected it during their six lost years—years lost to investment in Australian defence, years lost to supporting innovation in defence technology, years lost in ensuring Australia is secure.

See this speech in context