Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Defence Legislation Amendment (Naval Nuclear Propulsion) Bill 2023. There's no greater responsibility that a government has than to defend its people—to defend Australians. I was and still am very proud to have been part of a government that delivered—that created AUKUS. I want to particularly single out former prime minister Scott Morrison, former defence minister Peter Dutton, now opposition leader, and the former former defence minister, Senator Linda Reynolds. This was an arrangement that so much work had gone into to create. It was absolutely vital that it was done in a secretive way. I know that it upset the French, and that's regrettable, but AUKUS is a vitally important arrangement—a trilateral arrangement between Australia, the US and the UK.

Its principal pillar is that of the supply of as many as eight nuclear powered submarines to Australia. Why is that important? It's a $368 billion project. In all fairness, I will give credit where credit is due to the current Prime Minister. He could have baulked at this and said. 'We don't want a bar of this.' I'm conscious and cognisant of the Labor Party's extreme reticence in relation to nuclear energy. He didn't. He played team Australia, as he should have as the opposition leader at the time. He didn't have to, but he did a good thing. This $368 billion project is the single largest defence expenditure ever undertaken by our country. I'm reluctant to say it will probably be one of the largest ever, but who knows what will happen in the future? In relation to the nuclear powered submarines, a lot of Australians I've talked to about this issue have a not unusual reticence when they hear that figure of $368 billion. It is a significant sum of money. Many Australians say: why do we need to spend that sort of money? Nuclear powered submarines are the apex predator of defence military equipment.

I want to single out the hardworking men and women of the Royal Australian Navy. Those of you who are submariners who are working on shore, you may be listening to this. If you're at sea and you are submerged, you won't be listening to this, but I do want to single you out for your service. I have had the immense privilege of going to sea for three days on HMAS Collins, so I got a bit of a look at the work that you do. It was incredibly insightful for me to see the incredible work that you do in what are pretty trying and austere conditions. I want you to know that, as the now deputy chair of the defence committee, I have an immense degree of pride in the work that you do.

Our Collins class submarines—all six of them—really got a bad rap over decades. But, to the credit of the men and women of the Royal Australian Navy, we have turned them into very, very effective pieces of equipment. In fact, it is said that they are in the top two conventionally powered submarines in the world. It's a toss-up between Japan's conventionally powered submarines and the Collins class across the world, no doubt because of the great work that's done by our men and women of the Royal Australian Navy. Thank you for your service. There's a lot of work to be done to prepare you and your future comrades to be able to effectively crew the new nuclear powered submarines.

Why are nuclear powered submarines so important? One of the greatest limitations around diesel electric submarines is that, depending on how fast you're going, every 12 to 24 hours, those submarines need to surface—to snort—in order to recharge their batteries. Of course, when they snort, they're firing up their diesel engines and you might as well be playing a brass band. It is then when they are at their most vulnerable. Of course, we want to ensure that our submariners of the Royal Australian Navy have the best equipment to enable them to do the incredible work that they do. It is beyond doubt that the best kit we could put them in—the best kit that we can give them to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific and to give pause for thought—is nuclear powered submarines. Modern nuclear powered submarines like the Virginia class and the Astute class have an enclosed nuclear reactor which will last the lifetime of that boat. We will get eight nuclear powered submarines—three Virginia class and potentially another two, with the rest to be the new AUKUS class.

These new nuclear powered submarines can go to sea for indefinite periods. The only thing that will prevent them from doing so and will require them to come back to shore is for food for the crew, for the sanity of the crew and for armament replacement. Effectively, a nuclear powered submarine can go to sea and stay at sea, submerged, for six months if the crew can last that long.

That is the power of a nuclear powered submarine. It is the apex predator of the world's military equipment. And why is that important? When you look at, for instance, the People's Liberation Army Navy of China, they have as many as around 80 submarines and hundreds of surface fleet. We saw in the Falkland Islands war that, effectively, the Royal Navy was able to keep the Argentine Navy within the ports because they didn't want to risk losing another surface ship. That is the power of a submarine. That is the power of a nuclear powered submarine that can stay submerged for long periods of time, essentially undetected. Our adversaries will not know where they are. And, yes, whilst our adversaries' boats far outweigh and outnumber the boats that we will have and the surface vessels that we have, we have to give those who might seek to do us harm pause for thought: 'Is it worth us committing an asset to a particular area if there is a risk of an Australian nuclear powered submarine being there?' It's that pause for thought which assists us as a country to keep our country safe.

There would not be person in this building who would want to see this country at war with any other country, least of all with China—not a person in this building. But we have to understand that we live in very dangerous times. Who would have thought just 18 months ago that Europe would be at war? The expansion of the People's Liberation Army of China is very, very significant—and of their navy. They now reputedly have one of the largest, if not the largest, navy surface fleet in the world. They are growing their military at an unprecedented rate in an unexplained way. They will not say why, yet they still do it. And they still say that China seeks peace. That's all well and good, and I hope they do seek peace.

The reality is that Australia needs to be in a position to be able to defend itself. One of the things I have learned in this role is that sovereign capability is increasingly important. We are an island nation a long way from anywhere and we need to be investing in our own ability to defend ourselves. This bill will enable us to do the preparatory work. It will enable ARPANSA to perform its vital work as the nuclear regulator in the initial stages of getting these AUKUS boats into the water. There's a lot of water to go under the bridge, if you'll pardon the pun, but we have to start. There is no time like the present. There is a great degree of urgency. The Collins-class submarines, as effective as they are, are not getting any younger. We need to replace them, and this is a massive, massive project—a project that is like a moonshot for Australia.

We are so incredibly fortunate in this country to have two very close allies like the United States and the United Kingdom, with the United States sharing its crown jewels: its nuclear powered propulsion technology for submarines. This had only ever been done once before for another country, and that was in the United Kingdom in around 1959. The United States had not shared that technology with any other country. We'd asked them plenty of times, and the answer had always been no. But as time change, people change and perceptions change, and the United States and the United Kingdom now recognise that it is in their best interests and the best interests of the security of the Indo-Pacific to ensure that Australia has these nuclear powered submarines.

So to those Australians who, rightly, are concerned about our spending $368 billion: I get that. It's trite to say it's a lot of money. But at what cost is our democracy? At what cost is the freedom and liberty of 25 million Australians? Clearly $368 million is a king's ransom, but the lives, the freedom and the democratic principles of this great country require us to defend those 25 million people, and having these submarines in our military kit will enable us to do just that.

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