Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Government's $270 billion investment in Australia's defence capability is creating thousands of jobs and opportunities for small businesses across Australia, particularly in the state of Western Australia;

(b) it is only because of the Government's continued investment that we are able to guarantee that the men and women of the Australian Defence Force receive the defence capabilities they need to keep Australians safe; and

(c) a key pillar of our economic recovery plan to get Australians in jobs is getting more Australian businesses in our defence industry to deliver the essential capability our Defence Force relies on; and

(2) recognises that because of the support measures the Government has introduced to help Australian defence:

(a) businesses remain in business and are recovering from COVID-19; and

(b) our defence industry is not only recovering, but thriving as we come back from the COVID-19 recession.

I have moved this motion because it is the Morrison government's first and most important job to keep Australians safe, and we are resolutely committed to that aim. We're building an even stronger defence industry by investing $270 billion in Australia's defence capability over the next 10 years. This will help keep our nation secure, create more local jobs and back in small businesses. Our support to the defence industry has kept it strong, importantly, through COVID-19. Since 23 March last year, our government has paid more than 391,000 invoices early, ahead of time, to defence industry participants, and this cash in the hands of businesses early has helped keep Aussies employed and keep the cogs of this vital industry turning.

The vital work of our Defence Force can only succeed with the help of those thousands of Australian workers and businesses. Why? Because small businesses are the backbone of our entire economy, and they are the key to local jobs. That's why our approach includes a new enhanced contractual framework for Australian industry capability, guaranteeing opportunities for Australian enterprises.

I recently had the honour of representing the Minister for Defence, Peter Dutton, at the handover of a brand-new Guardian class patrol boat, the RSIPV Taro, to Solomon Islands. This was at the Austal shipyards in Henderson. It was a personally rewarding moment for me, because, back in 2003, when I was still in uniform, I was the second in command of the first infantry company that went into Solomon Islands, along with Australian Federal Police, to help restore law and order. So it was a very privileged opportunity to represent the Minister for Defence at the handover of that second Guardian class patrol vessel to the Solomon Islands High Commissioner to Australia. During a tour of the vessel and the facilities, I saw again out there firsthand the amazing spirit, the ingenuity, the craftsmanship and the quality that's going into these ships. I commend Austal for their fantastic work.

Just down the road at Civmec, along with their partner, Luerssen, people are also hard at work building the first of 10 Arafura class offshore patrol vessels, OPVs. Meanwhile, another two vessels are under construction at Osborne in South Australia. The Luerssen and Civmec teams in WA are making significant progress on the building blocks that, when complete, will form a 1,600-tonne, 80-metre long OPV, made exclusively with Australian steel. This project alone has created about 400 local jobs and engaged 300 local businesses, and it's on track to achieve more than 60 per cent local industry content. The Morrison government want to see more success stories like these, and that's why we're increasing the funding via defence industry grants. Over the next two years, Skilling Australia's Defence Industry grants will quadruple, from $4 million to $17 million per year. This will allow us to both broaden and deepen the skills of Australian workers.

Our government is getting on with the job. On top of the 10 OPVs, a key part of our plan is to build 21 Guardian class patrol boats, two Minehunter support vessels, one hydrographic vessel and six patrol boats, all in WA, using Australian workers and Australian steel. In stark comparison, Labor, in their last term of government, did not commission one Australian built ship. They failed to place a single order at an Australian naval shipyard in six years.

But this is only the start of our plan. We want to see our defence industry continue to thrive. We're living in a region, and indeed a world, in which significant security challenges persist. It remains our solemn responsibility to ensure that we can meet our strategic capability objectives and to shape, deter and respond, in line with our strategic update. It's not enough just to talk about the defence of our nation; we need to back it up. And that's exactly what we're doing through our clear plan. The Morrison government is investing in our defence industry, in local businesses and in the jobs this creates, because this is how we are keeping Australians safe.

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