Phillip Thompson (Herbert, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian Defence Force budget is an important measure of its ability to fulfil its role, and there can be nothing more important than ensuring that the men and women who serve our nation in the ADF have the resources they need to do their jobs to fight and win our wars. But we know that, under Labor, defence always suffers. Defence spending is always lower under Labor, and this budget is no exception. No, this is not political spin—the very gifted minds at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute have been crunching the numbers since the budget was delivered a month ago. They have identified that defence funding over the forward estimates period is lower than in the March 2022 budget of the former coalition government. In fact, this year's budget provides $1.5 billion less to defence over the next three years than our budget in March last year. This was confirmed by defence officials in estimates two weeks ago.

The budget papers reveal a cut to Army and a cut to Navy. It's disappointing but, unfortunately, not surprising. It makes it harder for our people on the ground, at sea or in the air to do their jobs, and there are already very specific examples of that. Cuts are being felt at the coalface right now. I know I've spoken about this a lot, but I want to raise again the cut to the order of the infantry fighting vehicles from 450 to 129 under LAND 400 phase 3. The reason I bring it up again is today I am hoping the minister opposite will take the opportunity to answer questions that are on the minds of every member of a mechanised battalion across the country, and particularly at the 3rd Brigade in my electorate: what is the future of our mechanised battalion? Which ones are going to be stripped of their capability? Which ones are going to have years and years of training and preparation go completely to waste? Which ones will see a raft of discharges as people feel their jobs mean nothing anymore at a time when we need all of our people? And specifically, on behalf of my own electorate, why won't the minister come clean about the future of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and other Townsville units that use the infantry fighting vehicle?

This is hurting our people right now. I was at 3RAR the day before Anzac Day, when the Deputy Prime Minister—that part-time defence minister—made this announcement. There were Kapyong Day commemorations, and it wasn't long after the ceremony finished that I was receiving messages like this: 'Why is the minister denying the infantry soldiers and those in a combined arms environment the protection that they deserve? So much time invested into capability we cannot use. So many discharges because we have lost our identity.' Even the Chief of Army says that infantry fighting vehicles are needed to help our troops survive. Why won't this part-time defence minister listen to soldiers on the ground and listen to the Chief of Army?

The government knew this decision was so unpopular, they didn't even reference it in the budget papers. The government are so inconsistent when it comes to defence. They say they'll do one thing and they'll do something completely different. I'm sure the minister remembers the Prime Minister's interview with the Australian where he said that he would spend whatever was necessary to build a defence force that could defend Australia, but here today we're talking about a $1.5 billion cut to the defence budget. So why is the Prime Minister breaking his promise and making it harder for the ADF to keep our country safe? It's a question which didn't get a decent answer when the member for Canning asked him in question time and an answer which I don't expect to receive. But I hope that this part-time defence minister will give the men and women who serve our nation in uniform the common decency of a response to the above questions.

If I could venture briefly into the veteran space for a moment, the former service men and women who I speak to on a daily basis have become pretty sick of the politicisation of the portfolio under this new minister, who, clearly, doesn't want to be the veterans' affairs minister. So my final question is: when will this government stop playing politics and deliver for our defence members and our veterans?

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