Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

When the government spends on defence, the whole country benefits from not only increased national security but a stronger and more diverse economy. My electorate of Capricornia is home to one of the nation's premier military training facilities. Shoalwater Bay has played a central role in Australia's training and war-gaming programs since the seventies and is revered across the ADF and our allies as a superb facility for simulating real combat situations.

This facility and the whole region are set to benefit from a close to $1 billion joint investment between the Australian and Singaporean governments. I, for one, am thrilled to see our local businesses working to ensure that they get their fair share of this. The money is being invested to grow the capabilities of the Shoalwater Bay facilities in a range of ways by increasing the area it covers and building new infrastructure on the site to make it more usable. I congratulate Minister Payne on her resolute intention to see the bulk of the work in this facility upgrade carried out by local subcontractors.

Also, so-called primes will contract the whole project. The Department of Defence has worked tirelessly to ensure local content goals are achieved. This is not a simple task and has required work on the prime contractors to ensure that they are really engaging with locals, and on the local subcontractors to ensure that they are setting themselves up to be able to do the work.

Due to the complexity of this suite of relationships, last year, with the help of local stakeholders, I formed the Capricornia Business Advisory Alliance Committee. This committee, which includes representatives of local government, the defence department, economic development agencies and local businesses, helps work through the issues at the heart of this huge project and is designed to provide feedback on how these relationships are forming. I believe this committee has been hugely successful so far in illuminating some of the shortfalls and opportunities posed by this project, particularly with respect to how the big contractors are interacting with local subcontractors.

While the intention of this government is undeniably in favour of having as much work as possible carried out by local subcontractors, it is clear from feedback that this is not always the desire of the prime contractors. A number of local contractors have put forward their concerns that they may be used as padding for tenders by primes essentially using their businesses as a front for the submission, with no real plans to use them when the work is on. This would represent an abject misdirection of the government's investment, and I, for one, call on those companies tendering for the Shoalwater Bay contract to be fair dinkum and use local contractors. I know the locals will be more reliable and more economical than their blow-in counterparts. I am determined to see this major project deliver real jobs to the region, and the only way this can be achieved is if locals get to do the work. I am serious about this and will continue to work closely with the minister to see that the government's local procurement targets are met by Central Queenslanders.

I want to congratulate the Rockhampton and Livingstone councils on their continued effort to see these communities profit from the expansion of Shoalwater Bay. Congratulations must also go to Capricorn Enterprise on the effort they have put in for their members in negotiating with the primes to see that their members, all local businesses and CQ get a serious crack at the work on offer. Without the work of these organisations, both public and private, the impact on the CQ economy would be minimal. As it is, we all look forward to the tender being awarded to a contractor with a serious commitment to using local contractors. Whoever is able to secure this major contract can rest assured, knowing I'll be on their case to ensure Capricornia's local businesses get what they deserve. With the recent announcement that Queensland will be the epicentre of the Land 400 project, I look forward to the state's reputation continuing to develop as a defence industry powerhouse, in the same way it has developed within the resources and agriculture industries. Regardless of where the work is done, the focus must be on delivering through small business and local jobs.

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