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

To all those who continue to serve—our veterans and your families—the freedoms we enjoy today are on the back of hard-fought battles, wars and sacrifice you have made. On Anzac Day we say, 'Lest we forget' and we reaffirm that we will never forget those who have been killed in battle, died in training or succumbed to the war within back here on home soil. On Remembrance Day we say, 'The guns fell silent.' But the guns haven't been silent since. In natural disasters—fires, floods, cyclones—our brave men and women are there, and in peacekeeping missions: East Timor, Fiji, the Solomon Islands; our brave men and women are there. And in combat operations—world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.—our brave men and women are there.

And it's not good enough when, on Anzac Day or Remembrance Day, politicians run to the first person they see who is in uniform or has medals on their chest to get a photo, post it on social media, then set and forget. There is so much more that needs to be done and so much action that needs to happen—because it won't be people in this place who will find themselves on the battlefield; it'll be our brave men and women, who will stand side by side with our allies, with the Australian flag on their shoulder and there will to win, with their country behind them. They know there is no substitute for victory and that second best means death on the battlefield. They need a government that stands up for them, a government that stands beside them and, most importantly, a government that has their back. Sadly, we have not seen that from this Labor government.

I'll give two examples. A Chinese naval ship deployed its sonar against Australian Navy divers, injuring them. What did the defence minister or the Prime Minister do? Nothing. Only days after this event, the Prime Minister of Australia met with Xi Jinping. Did he raise this? Did he stand up for our service men and women? No. Did he say, 'We will not put up with this anymore; this is an act of aggression'? No; he didn't. Fast-forward just a couple of months later. A Chinese fighter jet fired its flares on an Australian Navy helicopter. Experts have said that if these flares had hit this helicopter it would have had to ditch in the water or crash. A few things happen when a helicopter crashes in water. It normally hits at speed. It goes upside down quickly, and it sinks at about six metres per second. This could have been catastrophic for our people. Did the defence minister or the Prime Minister pick up the phone and call Xi Jinping or the defence minister of China? No; they didn't—once again, not standing up for our people. We heard words from the defence minister like, 'Oh, well; that was unprofessional.' Well, thanks, genius! We know it was unprofessional, but they put the lives of our people in danger. You should have been more strong and should have publicly said, 'We will not put up with this; this is an act of aggression'—stand up for our people.

We've seen more failure from this defence minister when it comes to cutting LAND 400 Phase 3, from 450 armoured vehicles to 129. Did you speak to the end user about this, or did you just look at the bottom line and slash it? The minister's nodding his head, but no, you didn't, because you announced on Kapyong Day, which is 3RAR's most sacred day, who would get these infantry fighting vehicles, and they knew nothing about it. You're speaking to the wrong people. You're making cuts where you shouldn't. You're not talking to the end user. You're more worried about what the generals say here in Canberra.

And we saw yesterday an absolute debacle of a defence policy coming from the Minister for Defence Personnel and Minister for Veterans' Affairs, who's clearly not across his brief. He had to get his dad, Richard Marles, to come out and mop it up for him! You said, 'People from Five Eyes, the Pacific and every other nation can join our ADF.' Well, it turns out that's not the case.

You're not across your brief, and there are so many questions that need to be answered. One of these questions is: when will the government provide a meaningful increase in Defence spending, an increase that comes now, not buried beyond the forward estimates, to ensure the ADF is ready to face up to the current threat? The continual mismanagement of our ADF by this government has reverberated through all of our communities. The DSR did not say, 'Get rid of the south to bolster the north.' The DSR did not say, 'Cut money from Army to fund AUKUS.' You need to do better; you need to put the Australian Defence Force before your own personal interests.

See this speech in context