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

It's great to be back for my first MPI of the parliamentary sitting year. We saw those opposite fumble on industrial relations, and we are watching in real time those opposite capitulating and joining with the Albanese Labor government in giving Middle Australia a tax cut over themselves and other high-income earners. They are clenching their teeth in doing so.

All of this is with the backdrop of those opposite putting on a third marvellous display last night in the final instalment of Nemesis. There have often been at least one or two of the cast in the chamber doing a curtain call. I'm sure that, soon enough, we'll be seeing an encore. One of the cast of Nemesis, in fact, was the one who brought the MPI here today, the member for Canning, and I sincerely thank him for doing so. He has so generously given us the opportunity to talk about defence and our defence industry, leaving on the table a blank cheque on those opposite's record during the Nemesis years. Sometimes the fish really does jump onto the hook. We are more than happy to give the opposition's record as much airtime as possible. That is more than I can say for the battlefield airlifter and our MRH-90 helicopters, $1.16 billion and $3.8 billion respectively.

As an aside, one of my favourite bands, blink-182, is touring Australia, including back in Adelaide last night and tonight. Their lyrics got stuck in my head once more when I was writing some of the remarks for this discussion: 'Don't waste your time on me.' It made me think of the billions of dollars of waste in defence spending under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments and the many time blow-outs of the projects green-lit under their watch. It's a mess that the Albanese government must clean up. How much time, might you ask, Madam Deputy Speaker? Under those opposite, 28 major projects have blown out by a total of 97 years—indeed, hardly anyone's definition of 'hasty'.

This is extremely troubling for any government that is expecting to protect our national security at a moment in history when we are tackling the most challenging strategic circumstances since World War II. I, frankly, can't blame those opposite too much for the results of their time in office. How many ministers for defence did they go through? Six. The last cab off the rack in that list was, of course, the now Leader of the Opposition, after he tried his luck with seeing how Australians responded to seeing him try to smile more. Of assistant ministers, there were six again. In defence industry, with all of the rebranding of that portfolio, we had a total of seven ministers under their government. One amongst the number of assistant ministers for defence was, of course, the member for Canning himself, whose service record prior to this place, I would gladly say, is something to be proud of, and I do thank him for his service, as well as the member for Hasluck, the member for Herbert and the member for Braddon, who are in the chamber here today.

But, in aggregate, none of their ministers and assistants was as terrible as the sum of all their parts combined. Those opposite may think 18 months is enough time for ministers in the Defence portfolio to correct their course. With the rate of turnover during the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, I can see why they would think that. But now, with the Albanese Labor government steering the ship—a ship that isn't made of faulty Chinese made aluminium, unlike the Cape class patrol boats those opposite greenlit—the record of those opposite on defence is a sunk fallacy indeed, going from littoral movements to literal mistakes—mistakes our men and women serving in the Australian Defence Force deserve better than to have settled for.

I know the member for Canning knows this through and through. As recently as March last year he conceded that he saw a lot of waste, a statement that would qualify as at least an honourable mention in the understatement of the year rankings. He even conceded the churn of ministers led to delays and inertia. I know he wouldn't debate me on this. The member for Canning has publicly stated this as a valid criticism of their time in government. But now, in opposition, their memory is seemingly wiped, unless the ABC sticks a camera in front of them.

It's ironic to hear the most insecure amongst our parliament accusing us of being weak on security. Under our government—the Deputy Prime Minister, the Assistant Minister for Defence and the Minister for Defence Industry, who we heard from earlier—we have a chance of manufacturing our AUKUS submarines, not just as an announcement under those opposite but as a longstanding part of our national defence for years to come. Labor governments so often have to be the ones to correct the mess, the rorts and the waste under Liberal-National governments. We have the vision to look toward our nation's future, whilst those opposite only have eyes for playing politics and talking about themselves.

See this speech in context