Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Petrie for moving a motion on defence industry and the capability of our sovereign defence industry. I also join with the member for Herbert in thanking all our defence personnel for their service.

Whether he intended this or not, the member for Petrie's motion gives our side of the chamber ample opportunity to play a bit of compare and contrast as to how we get from point A, a plan and an announcement, all the way through to point B, the delivery. I say this because I feel it would be unfair, inaccurate and counterproductive to say that those opposite do not want to see Australia's defence spending and sovereign capability growing to suit our national interest in the broad sense. But we can look at a few key facts, like the Morrison government alone having three defence ministers in three years. That includes, at the tail end of the Morrison government, having their very own Leader of the Opposition himself on job. Seeing how he ran Home Affairs, frankly, makes us duty bound to examine things with a fine-tooth comb. It makes us want to look under the hood at what is actually going on within that space a little more intently.

We are instantly talking about billions of dollars with our defence industry, and it's only fair to review the delivery of a project beyond that point A—the announcement—against how things are faring in the approach to point B. The beginning of this examination occurred with the commissioning of this government's Defence strategic review, co-authored by the Hon. Stephen Smith, a former defence minister who served in that role in both the Gillard and Rudd governments, and Sir Angus Houston, a man who needs little further explanation of his pedigree other than to point to his serving as Chief of the Defence Force until his retirement in 2011. But the handing down of the DSR was only the starting point, and the member for Petrie's motion somewhat alludes to the reason why.

For starters, there was the discovery that the Australian National Audit Office had identified major defence projects running years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, with 28 projects that are a total of 97 years behind schedule and 18 projects running over budget. At least $6.5 billion of variations from the initial approved budgets were identified. We saw battlefield airlifters that can't fly into battlefields. We saw patrol boats that were built with materials that are prone to rusting, which appears problematic even from a layperson's perspective. I may not have been in the navy, but from my days as a merchant seafarer I can tell you that this is quite an obvious flaw on most types of boats. Without listing the projects, we can understand why if one falls into any of those categories it might be described as a project of concern.

The Albanese Labor government understands that major defence projects are no small undertaking, requiring the hard work of personnel within the Department of Defence, the ADF and cutting-edge defence industry partners. This is by no means a simple task, but having a holistic view of our defence spend requires the government of the day, and ministers within the defence portfolio umbrella, to take an active role in monitoring projects to ensure this doesn't happen on a grand scale. It's easy to announce the spending of billions in defence as part of saying that defence spending has never been higher under a given government, but making sure that money has been spent wisely is just as critically important, albeit less flashy.

Labor understands the importance of having a strong defence industry operating within its borders. As the member for Spence, I'm particularly proud of the defence industry that is operating within the borders of my own electorate. Perfectly located in the vicinity are the RAAF Base Edinburgh and the Defence Science and Technology Group, in a location that is enviously connected to the Osborne Naval Shipyard, which is going to play a major role in the AUKUS build. Everyone from the defence primes to SME manufacturers knows that the future is bright in this space, with primes such as BAE Systems Australia, Saab Australia, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Northrup Grumman operating in Spence, not to mention the building of Boeing's defence aircraft maintenance facility to support the P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

I have many fond memories of last year's Defence Industry Day held in my electorate of Spence. The Assistant Minister for Defence was kind enough to attend, give a keynote address and meet with members of the Edinburgh Industry Alliance on the day. I very much look forward to attending the next Defence Industry Day later this year. We've seen positive signs within the industry since the election of the Albanese Labor government and the handing down of the DSR. Those in the industry that know me well will know I will always be fighting for the defence industry, as it's an industry that has kept manufacturing alive in the northern suburbs of Adelaide.

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