Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Sydney is here; she is on duty—sorry. In fact, they are now saying capability is paramount ahead of domestic manufacturing. That is what they're now saying. They're not just crab-walking away from their own election policy of a future made in Australia; they are running away. That's what the industry is telling me. They're absolutely running away. They have been in government for nearly a year. They squandered the last year and left medium and small enterprise businesses waiting in the wings.

The Prime Minister said today that they will receive the DSR, that Labor is big on commitment and not just announcements. But the reality is they have committed to nothing. They're not big on commitment. They haven't ordered the artillery shells that obviously we will need. Labor, when last in government, cut it to the lowest level since 1938. The Minister for Defence Industry today, when asked if he could name one naval vessel commissioned between 2017 and 2013, couldn't name one because, as the Leader of the Opposition said, there wasn't one. The last time Labor was in government, the decision to cut defence spending was simply playing Russian roulette with our nation's safety and security. I have the whole book here on what the coalition did in government. When this man is back as the defence minister one day, we will have a competent defence— (Time expired)

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