Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's my great pleasure to second the motion and to commend the government for the not just significant but incredible investment it's making in defence industry. The member for Corio, as he's leaving the chamber, really should hang his head in shame at the absolute misrepresentation that he's put up for the last five minutes. He's now left the chamber. He wasn't able to hang around for the real facts. But let's put the facts on the table. We hear about the valley of death. The valley of death happened under Labor. In six years, when Labor knew the valley of death was coming, Labor did not one thing to correct it. It did not commission one single naval vessel from an Australian yard, and the valley of death is now being remedied like never before by our government. Let's not forget that under Labor 119 defence projects were delayed, 43 projects were degraded, eight projects were cancelled and—I say again—not one single naval vessel from an Australian yard was commissioned to be built in this country in six years.

Even worse, to give a strong indication as to how significant the failure by the previous Labor government was, Labor cut the Defence budget in 2012-13 to the lowest level of funding since 1938, at only 1.56 per cent of GDP. In contrast, very proudly, the Turnbull government will grow the Defence budget to two per cent of GDP, three years ahead of schedule, by 2020-21. That is because of our record $200 billion investment in the Australian Defence Force, including in some very important projects—building offshore patrol vessels, the submarine program, and our very comprehensive commitment to rebuilding our shipping industry in Australia. We're incredibly proud of what we're doing.

Of course, we're also making a very significant investment in the Land 400 project. That's now, of course, down to a big fight between Queensland and Victoria. We're working very hard to secure that project and that $5 billion contract for Victoria. The Land 400 phase 2 project will acquire 225 combat reconnaissance vehicles. It's a very significant project. Of course, that will then go onto phase 3. I want to commend the work that's been done by my coalition colleagues in Victoria who are fighting for that project which we hope will see many jobs in both Melbourne and Geelong.

Very pleasingly, one of the most significant companies in our region is Marand. Marand has done some incredible work on the Joint Strike Fighter Project, constructing not only the trailer but also the tail for that particular aircraft. It is also partnering with BAE Systems in building the hull for BAE's vehicle, so it is wonderful to see, in contrast, perhaps, to Rheinmetall's bid, how much investment BAE is placing in this bid in terms of Australian defence jobs. That's what our commitment is all about. In contrast to Labor, we recognise that, when we invest in Australia's defence industry, we're also determined to invest in growing Australian defence jobs. It's been my great pleasure to conduct a number of roadshows on behalf of the Minister for Defence Industry, speaking about the opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises—which is very exciting—including, of course, on the Land 400 project.

I should just say that it was with great excitement that I joined the Prime Minister, the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Defence Industry for the historic arrival of Australia's first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircrafts at the International Airshow in Avalon, which is an incredible showcase of our firepower, if you like—for want of a better word. It really is wonderful to see that more than 50 Australian businesses have already shared in $800 million of value in the F-35 production program, which has created 2½ thousand jobs around the country. So, unlike Labor's efforts, we are focused on delivering thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment, including, of course, in my great state of Victoria.

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