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

I want to thank the honourable member for his question. We had a great visit recently to Lavarack Barracks. Obviously there is a great deal of respect among the troops there for the honourable member, and he provides them with great representation in Townsville, so I thank him for that service. Obviously the government has made a number of significant investment decisions—$270 billion—over this decade to provide support to capacity-building within the Australian Defence Force. They have been very significant acquisitions and they are required. We do live in an uncertain part of the world and we do need to make sure that we keep Australia safe and secure, not just now, but into the decades ahead.

The government has provided $15 billion over 10 years into Defence's cyber and information warfare capabilities. In March, the government announced it will accelerate the creation of $1 billion sovereign guided weapons enterprise, boosting skilled jobs and helping secure Australia's sovereign defence capabilities. This is a cutting-edge technology and investment, and it is important for us to acquire those skills and those assets to keep Australia safe. The manufacture and supply of those weapons in Australia will enhance operational capacity and ensure a supply chain security.

The government will do whatever it takes to support the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. We put that $270 billion in. We know that when Labor was in government, they took $18 billion out from Defence, and that's unfortunate because we do face uncertain times and we do need to ensure that we invest properly into Defence.

I'm incredibly supportive of the work of Australian Defence Force and I want to inform the House, on 14 and 15 May, HMAS Anzac, in partnership with AMSAR and the Department of Home Affairs, rescued 20 Indonesian fishermen in distress 670 nautical miles north-west of Perth. Two P-8s and a C-130 Hercules aircraft were also involved in the search. The rescue of all 20 Indonesian fishermen from their stricken vessel in the southern Indian Ocean was a very fortunate outcome. It was a perilous position that they were in, and Australia is incredibly proud of what we were able to achieve. I know that Indonesia was very grateful for the support we provided to them.

Domestically, we have another 160 members of the Australian Defence Force, some of our finest in uniform, going to Victoria to provide support to the Victorian government to help people get through this period. We want to make sure we can provide whatever support to Victorian health and to Victoria Police. The Australian Defence Force has demonstrated over the course of this year and back that we have provided support at every turn to the Australian people. (Time expired)

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