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

I want to say thank you very much to the member for Herbert, who, like all of those who have worn the uniform in our country's name, would be mourning the loss of the two soldiers who were tragically killed north of Townsville yesterday.

By way of update to the House, two members of the Brisbane based 7th Combat Brigade died following a vehicle incident at the Townsville Field Training Area yesterday. The two men, one aged 29, the other, a warrant officer, aged 40, tragically lost their lives when their vehicle rolled. I want to recognise the Defence rescue and medical teams who attended that scene in the most difficult and traumatic of circumstances; but, sadly, the members were unable to be saved.

I want to say to all of those at Gallipoli Barracks and to all of those in particular at 7th Combat Brigade that all of this parliament and all Australians feel for you today and for the families of those lost. We know that there will be very significant grief at Gallipoli Barracks today and at Lavarack Barracks, and indeed around the country. The defence family is a very tight one, and we know that not only the families but the defence families of these two men will be greatly mourning their loss, and we pay tribute to their service.

The Morrison government is committed to making sure that we can provide every support to those diggers. We do it in many, many ways. Taking care of our personnel is absolutely paramount. There are countless conversations that the Prime Minister and I have had about ways in which we can provide additional support to our service men and women, who serve us, who protect us, who keep our country safe.

Let's be very real: we live in a very uncertain time, and not just in the Middle East. We've seen the tragic circumstances there and the circumstances in which our soldiers are deployed—and also in our own region, in the Indonesia-Pacific. The fact that we've been able to commit $270 billion over the course of this decade to provide support, by way of new equipment, to those troops demonstrates our commitment to keeping our country safe.

At least 15,000 companies and 70,000 Australian workers are benefiting from the government's investment in shipbuilding and defence. We're investing $65 billion over the next decade into next-generation air capabilities, including through acquiring long-range anti-ship missiles. We're investing $55 billion into land domain capabilities, such as strike weapons, watercraft, helicopters, robotics and autonomous systems. Our Naval Shipbuilding Plan represents the largest regeneration of the Navy since the Second World War. That investment is absolutely essential, not only to keep the men and women of the Australian Defence Force safe but to keep our country safe. We will continue to make decisions to support our personnel today and into the future.

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