Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question—a great champion of the defence industry in South Australia. We are creating literally thousands of jobs in South Australia and, indeed, right around the country. We are supporting the creation of a megadefence industry. We're investing $270 billion in this decade alone to build defence's capability and to make sure that they are well and truly ahead of any adversaries. We're investing about $24 billion in the Navy guided weapons project to acquire more capable maritime, air and missile defence maritime-strike, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare weapons systems to provide a strong, credible deterrent that will ensure stability and security in our region. In addition to that, we're investing some $55 billion to modernise our land capability. We will deliver over 200 boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles, creating an estimated 1,450 jobs.

Mr Conroy interjecting—

I take the interjection. They were never built on your watch because you cut money out of defence.

Mr Conroy interjecting—

You cut $18 billion out of defence, you dummy. Interject more.

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