Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset I want to thank the member for Stirling very much for raising this motion. It speaks to two important commitments of the Morrison government that we on this side of the House are committed to delivering on behalf of Australians: to keep Australia safe and to create more jobs. For anyone who just heard the Labor contribution before me, only the Labor Party provide a downside to the creation of jobs, but that is exactly what they're able to achieve. On this side of the House we are very dedicated to creating jobs for Australians without reservation, because we know that creating jobs means creating opportunity for Australian families and it means that we can achieve the economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession.

The member for Stirling, of course, not only is very keen to deliver these, as all members on this side of the chamber are; he has lived it himself as part of the Defence Force. He served his country and the ADF very admirably, and we thank him very much for his service along with the other members in this place who have served their country.

We are building a stronger defence industry and investing $270 billion in Australia's defence capability. We are in a rapidly-changing global environment, and the Morrison government, in this regard under the leadership of the defence minister, Minister Dutton, is significantly boosting Australia's sovereign defence capabilities and making sure that the men and women of the ADF who are dedicating their lives and professional careers to our national interest, have everything that they need to protect this country and be the best the defending force that they can be.

As the member for the Ryan electorate, I am very privileged to have in my electorate the Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera and to get to speak personally pretty regularly with the many dedicated personnel of the ADF who are based there at Enoggera. Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the barracks with both the defence minister and then also with the assistant defence minister to talk to the personnel. I also have to admit that in a moment of weakness I agreed to be put through a personal training session with Assistant Minister Hastie. It didn't end very well for me, I have to say, when I tried to keep up with Assistant Minister Hastie! It was only meant to be a 20-minute training session, so they put together a bit of a circuit, and I thought, 'Jeez, you can survive anything for 20 minutes.' I was wrong—very wrong—but I can attest to the fact that the Assistant Minister for Defence, Assistant Minister Hastie, is in pretty good form, but, more importantly, that the men and women of the ADF, particularly the ones who are based at Enoggera, are in absolute tip-top shape to serve our nation.

While we continue to build our defence capability, we are also backing Australian jobs. This is the point I made at the very beginning. We're doing this wherever possible by making sure our defence contracts go to domestic suppliers. Since 23 March 2020, the Morrison government has paid over 391,000 defence invoices, valued at $26.9 billion, to Australian companies, and they are paid, importantly, earlier than the standard payment terms so that we can help these Australian small businesses to deliver jobs and deliver investments into their local communities.

For electorates like ours in Ryan, with large defence bases, our commitment means that local tradies and contractors get the business to work on our bases, helping local families and stimulating our local economies, so it's not just the serving men and women of the ADF who are located at the base with their families, who, of course, contribute to the surrounding community; it is also those contractors, tradies, local businesses and others who the bases support. We know that our defence industry can only survive and, indeed, thrive with the help of our outstanding Australian businesses, and in turn our Australian businesses are helped by the government guaranteeing capability opportunities for Australian SMEs in defence contracts. It is a win-win. It is a partnership between this government, Australian small businesses and the Defence Forces.

In 2019, the first-ever Boxer vehicle for the Australian Army was unveiled, and you guessed it: it was at the Gallipoli Barracks in Enoggera at the Ryan electorate. The Boxer 8x8 combat reconnaissance vehicle was officially launched under the LAND 400 phase 2 mounted combat recognisance capability project. It's a $200 billion investment for Queensland. It's something that team Queensland have fought hard for, and we look forward to continuing to see that investment and those jobs roll out into our communities going forward.

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