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

I will get to the questions from my honourable friend the shadow minister, but I would like to first deal with the contributions from the members for Fisher and Fairfax, as they've been good enough to ask specific questions. I must say that the 'Team Queensland' approach to defence industry has been very refreshing. The members from Queensland have really embraced the opportunities that are presented by this the biggest build-up of our military capability in our peacetime history—$200 billion over the next 10 years. However, the difference between this build-up and past build-ups is that we are investing so much of that money and those resources here in Australia, building Australian businesses, a sophisticated workshop—the advanced manufacturing that Australia can do. However, in many cases those who wanted to work in the defence industry were never given the opportunity because they weren't supported by our own government. This government has a very different attitude.

In the member for Fisher's electorate on the Sunshine Coast, I attended, as the Minister for Defence Industry, one of the first defence industry forums that has been held in the last couple of years in this government. I think about 170 businesses were present, and it got a tremendous reception from businesses in the Sunshine Coast and the media. If I remember rightly, there was a rather stunning front page in the Sunshine Coast Daily'Coast's $200 billion defence bonanza,' and that's just for the Sunshine Coast. If only that were possible!

In the member for Fisher's electorate, there are some outstanding examples of businesses that are competing for and winning contracts on their merits. He mentioned Praesidium Global, which has just won a new contract for $2 million for unmanned ground vehicles from the Department of Defence to support that particular business. They're undergoing a 12-month user evaluation, which could lead to even more work.

He mentioned HeliMods, which I visited on the Sunshine Coast—it's in Caloundra. In fact I saw Will Shrapnel recently in Paris at the Eurosatory trade expo where he was pushing HeliMods, as he was in Malaysia when I was there not that long ago. They have won a small contract for $154,000 to deliver wet decks for the Romeo helicopters, but small contracts, when they are delivered and delivered well, can lead to much greater contracts down the track. HeliMods employs 25 skilled people in Caloundra. I have great belief they will succeed, especially in exports. There is also Eniquest, which builds military-grade DC and AC power generators and auxiliary power units, which are used in our Bushmaster vehicles and have already been exported to our friends in Singapore. So the Sunshine Coast is a wellspring of these kinds of activities and I think it will be in the future.

If I can turn to the combat reconnaissance vehicles. The member for Fairfax was really the spear point in Team Queensland for promoting the Rheinmetall bid. Rheinmetall won the right to build 211 combat reconnaissance vehicles. Their competitor was BAE, which had chosen Victoria as their base. The decision was made entirely on the capability of the vehicles. But I should say this: at the beginning of that tender process, neither of the bidders were asked to have any Australian industry content; they were asked to provide value for money and their best product. Both came up with five per cent Australian industry content out of a $5.2 billion project. By the time we got to the end of the tender process, because of the change of government, because of the Turnbull government, that figure had moved to 55 per cent Australian industry content out of a $5.2 billion acquisition and 65 per cent out of the $15.7 billion, which is the sustainment and maintenance and life of the project. That could have been five per cent. Instead it was 55 per cent, and 70 per cent for the whole of the project. That is the difference that government policy makes, driving Australian businesses, Australian jobs. The capability that the Army wanted and needed has not been diminished at all, but we are driving the jobs and the advanced manufacturing that is spread right around Australia, not just in Queensland. Victoria is the other big winner from the CRV contract. Businesses like AME, AW Bell, CAS, Cablex, Supercat, Tectonica are all in Victoria. They will also benefit, as will the other states.

See this speech in context