Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

It's with a sense of optimism that I rise in this place today to support Australia's small and medium business enterprises that have ambitious plans to break into the defence industry. This optimism, however, is tempered by concern that this government's rhetoric around securing Australian content for future defence contracts is just that. Really, it is all talk with no action. The SMEs I meet with talk about the cost and difficulty of becoming defence ready, and for some businesses this is prohibitive without a good prospect of securing any return whatsoever. Defence procurement could have uncapped potential to generate Australian jobs, but we have to take the cap off and allow these businesses to truly be defence ready, to get involved in our nation's security, in our very sovereignty.

In my electorate of Paterson and here in Canberra, I meet with many SMEs each week who talk to me about the amazing work they are doing—and some of these people are thought leaders across the globe. They're hoping to land a defence contract, but it's not purely for financial gain. These businesses genuinely believe their product or service will improve the life and safety of the men and women who will operate them in the Defence Force and in the defence of Australia. And I've got no doubt that this is true. It's truly a noble act. I recently met with a small operation in Medowie who have developed a secure system that could revolutionise the way organisations talk to each other internally and also in the battle space realm.

With cybersecurity at the forefront of the challenges currently facing not only our nation but other nations we see across the world, Defence needs to consider all of the options, not just those offered up by traditional partnerships. With the government set to invest a record amount in defence, it has a once-in-a-generation opportunity not only to support Australian industry but to secure sovereignty over major investment projects. We know that this is one of the pivotal aspects of any investment in Australia—never more so than right now in defence. We need to have Australian minds and Australian ingenuity right from the idea phase through to the delivery phase.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the grand opening of Murray Consulting Solutions, a local success story in my electorate. MCS, as it's known, is a thriving consultancy company with headquarters in Medowie, adjacent to RAAF Base Williamtown. Founded by owner and managing director Jason Murray in 2011, they are a fantastic story, with operations now spanning Medowie, Newcastle, Sydney and Canberra. MCS have more than 40 employees, with steady growth providing services to defence across project management, engineering logistics, tests and evaluation, maintenance management and many services. The thing I took away from my meeting with Jason and his incredible team at MCS is their passion for making outstanding decisions and products. And they do it differently for their employees, their employees' families, their clients, our community and, most importantly, our Defence Force. They are thinking differently about the way we defend Australia and how defence in Australia works.

One of the key elements of Labor's national reconstruction fund is just that. We want to develop our own sovereignty and think differently about it. Labor is going to work with industry, like Jason at MCS, to ensure that defence industry development strategy ensures that we not only think at the cutting edge but we deliver at the cutting edge with Australian industries, Australian jobs and Australian apprenticeships. I'd like to remind those present in the chamber that this government talks up apprenticeships but we've lost 150,000 apprentices while they have been in government over the last eight years. Imagine how far down the track we could have been if we had kept those and got more apprentices, especially in the defence space. Defence procurement processes need to be more agile, consider more easily Australian industry and get the contracting right to make sure defence delivers for all. Defence procurement processes need to be more agile. We need to more easily consider Australian industry and we need to get the contracting right too, to make sure Defence delivers for all. (Time expired)

See this speech in context