Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I do thank my colleagues for their contributions to this consideration in detail about defence, and I thank the shadow minister, the member for Corio, for the spirit in which he has engaged in the questioning of the government in a serious way about things that are very important and, it is fair to say, by and large, attract bipartisan support. I might answer the shadow minister's questions first in order to pay him the respect that he is due as the shadow minister and then deal with my colleagues' questions.

The shadow minister asked about the Collins class submarines. He asked about a number of specific issues to do with the Collins class and its replacement. I can tell him that the timetable that he has broadly outlined for the replacement submarines based on the Barracuda class from DCNS is broadly right, and contingencies are being put in place by Defence, as he would expect, to ensure that there is no capability gap in the 2030s as we transition from the six Collins class submarines to the 12 DCNS submarines that will come into operation. I can tell him that that schedule cannot be hurried up. He asked if it could be done faster. The reality is that building submarines is an enormous task—it is a huge project. I give due credit to the Hawke government that initially decided that we would build Collins class submarines. Sure, that was a very fraught program, but let's not forget we had never built a submarine in this country before.

I, and I am sure the member for Corio does too, want to ensure not only that we have the sovereign strategic capability to sustain and maintain submarines, which we now have thanks to the work of particularly this government, but also that we can have the capability to build submarines into the future. We never want to be in a position again where we have to rely on another country for spare parts or for the availability of our submarines, as happened in previous periods, particularly during the Falklands War. I am sure that the opposition agrees with us about that. I can tell him with absolute clarity that every one of the submarines will be built in Adelaide at Osborne, from submarine 1 to submarine 12. Some of his colleagues have been trying to create dust storms around this issue. There is absolutely no question that the 12 submarines will be built in Adelaide, there is no plan at this stage to change the sustainment and maintenance arrangements that already exist between Henderson and Osborne for the sustainment and maintenance of the Collins class submarines, and the submarine project is very much on track.

As I said before, I will turn a sod at Osborne south in July, which is the shipyard. DCNS are organising their plans for Osborne north, which is the submarine yard, and I look forward to turning a sod there as well. I can inform the chamber that, in fact—as has been publicly stated—the Commonwealth government has secured, for $230 million, the Common User Facility at Techport, as it is known, which was previously in the ownership of the South Australian government. It has also secured all the land around the Osborne shipyard and submarine yard, effectively more than doubling it in size, in order to ensure that we have the space that is necessary for a successful ship- and submarine-building capability. In fact, the member for Kingston will be pleased to know that the shed that DCNS will build at Osborne north for the submarines is actually bigger than the Adelaide Oval stadium. So it is dramatically large. The member for Kingston does not seem as excited about that as I had expected she would be, but it certainly excites me. You will not quite see it from space but you will certainly see it every time you fly into Adelaide and be reminded that it was this government that secured the submarines for South Australia, not the Labor Party.

The shadow minister asked about exports. Coming from a government that never did anything about exports in six years, that was audacious, but, nevertheless, I take it in the spirit in which it was intended. I can tell him that there will be a defence export strategy released in the third quarter of this year, but, as he knows, I, as the Minister for Defence Industry, am not waiting for the defence export strategy; I have already written, in January this year, to all of the defence attaches— (Time expired)

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