Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question and acknowledge his service. Shortly the government will be releasing its response to the independent review of our surface fleet. This will be a blueprint for building the most capable Australian Navy in almost a century. But it's important to understand where we're starting from. We inherited from those opposite the oldest surface fleet since the end of the Second World War. We will fix that, but it will require money and resources.

We've heard a lot of noise from those opposite when it comes to defence spending. But they have a record which is plain to see. If we're to take them at face value, one point they're making is that where they left the defence spend was inadequate. In last year's budget—

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