Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion and thank the honourable member for moving it, and I support the call for proactive plans to facilitate more veteran employment in the defence industry sector. As the member for Herbert is well aware, Defence is a significant stakeholder in the development of northern Australia and, certainly, Defence has a long history in the Northern Territory. We've got a great relationship with the ADF but also with other national security agencies, our international allies—MRF–D, the Marine Rotational Force in Darwin, being a case in point—and our neighbours. I was recently in West Timor. I met with some TNI naval officers who were very much looking forward to a visit from an Australian patrol boat in the coming months. Those sorts of cooperative patrols are essential. It is just one of many cases in point. How the Australian government invests and procures to meet Australia's defence and national security needs can deliver broader socioeconomic outcomes—developing the north is an obvious one—but can also close the gap in Aboriginal disadvantage. The ongoing AACAP has seen significant and important infrastructure in the Northern Territory and, indeed, remote Aboriginal communities over some time.

In my electorate of Solomon, defence and national security agencies are very much part of our community. They're in our footy teams and we see them when we go down to the shops. They're vital. Defence spending in the Northern Territory reached, in 2016-17, $1.9 billion, which is huge for our economy. It was 7.3 per cent of gross state product. I know that the government, in their sixth year, realise the importance, at least in a rhetorical way, of the commitment that they've made to $20 billion in defence infrastructure for the Northern Territory over the next 20 years. However, there is a growing body of evidence that calls into question the strategic objectives and needs of Defence when it comes to the Northern Territory and, indeed, our northern borders. I'll cover them quickly.

To begin, Defence annual reports reveal the number of ADF personnel in the Northern Territory is at an 11-year low. This dwindling defence presence doesn't seem to correlate well with the large capital investment that we understand is going to happen in the future. What we are seeing is that some of the headline figures that Defence was going to spend in the Territory—that is, $7.7 billion in the first 10 years of the plan since 2016—keep being revised down. The figure has currently fallen to around $1 billion since 2016, which is an 80 per cent underspend in what was committed. That's a problem for us. Defence presence is dwindling in the Northern Territory in what could only be described as an unknown investment strategy. It's come at a time of great strategic uncertainty, as all honourable members would be aware.

We know that defending Australia isn't just about troop numbers in the NT or infrastructure development in the north. However, it's very hard to project force into our region if you're not providing the infrastructure spend that is required and has been committed to. So I call on the Prime Minister and those opposite to honour the commitments to defence infrastructure spend that have previously been made. We can do more to make sure that regional businesses see the benefits of defence investment in their areas. Regional businesses are full of highly skilled people—hopefully, increasingly including veterans—eager to help our country be safe through a robust defence industry. The right defence regional procurement policy will make sure that can happen.

To close, I want to thank the shadow defence minister, the member for Corio, who attended a forum on this very subject with Territory industry today. I thank him for coming. I again thank the member for Herbert for the motion.

See this speech in context