Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

GOSLING () (): I obviously welcome this motion because it goes to unreasonable delays in awarding defence contracts, and I will reflect a bit on a decade of not much—I'll get to that. I welcome this motion because our government, the Albanese government, has been very busy for a bit over a year, fixing up the mess that the former government—the coalition; those opposite—left us when it came to defence industry. They talk a big game, as they're doing this morning, but they really failed to deliver. Our government is determined to provide the clarity and guidance that industry needs to make informed business decisions based on Australia's priority. Later this year our government will release a defence industry development strategy that will set out a plan to grow the industry's workforce to deliver a viable industrial base and increase Australia's defence export. There's nothing that makes me prouder than seeing Australians apply their trade and their significant know-how to make stuff that is the best in the world.

We are committed to supporting the Australian defence industry so we can make more of the critical defence equipment that we need here in this country. We're also delivering the AUKUS submarine program with our partners, which is the most transformative industrial endeavour in our history. It will exceed the scale, complexity and economic significance of the creation of an Australian automobile-manufacturing sector, which those opposite wrecked, or of the construction of the Snowy scheme.

The program will create around 20,000 direct jobs over the next 30 years across industry, the ADF and the Australian Public Service: tradies of all sorts, operators, technicians, engineers, scientists, submariners, of course, and project managers—very important. At its peak, that AUKUS program will be building and sustaining nuclear powered and conventionally armed submarines in Australia and will create up to 8,500 direct jobs. That's just pillar 1 of AUKUS—the submarines. Of course, there'll be many more jobs and opportunities with pillar 2. Our decision to build infantry fighting vehicles in Australia will also support up to 600 direct jobs and many more indirect jobs.

On 1 July, the government launched the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, less than three months after the government received the Defence strategic review. Our government is investing $748 million in these capabilities over the next four years and $3.4 billion, with a b, over the next decade. This is an additional $591 million above planned spending on defence innovation over the decade.

We're also focused on reforming Defence to make it a better customer for industry. Many defence projects are very complex and are at the cutting edge of technological, engineering and industrial capability, so they inevitably involve more risk. One problem—and there were many under the former government—was that defence ministers—and there were lots—failed to provide the leadership needed to effectively manage those risks. I can't recall, but I think the previous speaker said they had six ministers for defence over three terms of government under Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison. I actually think it was seven defence ministers, because you remember there was that bizarre time when there were Pyne and Paine and no-one really knew who was responsible for doing anything. As it turns out, no-one really was and nothing really got done, apart from requiring monthly reports on projects of concern or interest to the ministers for defence and defence industry.

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