Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Having a strong Defence Force is the most important thing for Australia. It is really important that we have a strong Australian Defence Force. It's one of the core responsibilities of the Australian government and of our Prime Minister. Australians need to understand that having a strong Defence Force brings peace. No-one wants war. No-one wants to see people involved in war. We want to see peace and prosperity, just like we have today here in Australia. We're very blessed to live in Australia. It's one of the greatest countries in the world. Australia has been an advocate for stability, security and sovereignty not just in our region but right around the world under many governments in my lifetime.

The Albanese government, though, is failing the country when it comes to defence, particularly in relation to defence industry. From cutting funding to recruitment blunders to union disputes, our defence industry is plummeting. At this time, can you believe that there is only one operational Collins class submarine that's currently able to go to sea? We have six. Just a couple of years ago, under the coalition government, there were at least three at sea and there were always three in the docks, but right now we've got one operational submarine. Five out of six are out of action.

We have to ask ourselves: are we prepared, and is our Defence Force the best it can be under this government? I believe the answer is no. We have seen just today that they cancelled a $7 billion military-grade satellite communication system that the defence minister gave the green light to only 18 months ago. Eighteen months ago, he said, 'Yep, let's proceed,' and now we're cancelling that $7 billion program. The reality is that this government is saving funding on Defence. They talk a big game in question time and say, 'We're spending a lot,' but what they're actually doing is putting it all in the forward estimates or way down the track. They might be spending a lot in year 4, 5 or 6 if they get a second or third term or whatever it may be, but today, right now, we're not prepared. The government will blame the cancellation of this system on rising costs and advances in technology, but right now this system had been ordered. It was good to go.

As a country, we need to do better. We cannot just rely on our security partners—the United States, the United Kingdom and others. We've seen that in the US Donald Trump has said that he expects allies to pull their weight. We can't just get a free ride off the US when it comes to defence. He expects allies—and other Americans as well, by the way—to invest a percentage of their income each year in defence industry and making sure that we have the best defence personnel and equipment.

I know that right now there are literally thousands of people who apply for the Defence Force, and it doesn't take one month, two months, three months, six months or 12 months to get accepted; it drags on and on and on. Every single person that sits in this country, enjoying the freedom that we have, needs to rest assured that the ADF are there for us, but right now we have fewer than 60,000 full-time people in uniform, along with others who are in the reserves—and we thank them for it. The reality is that the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery and the Minister for Defence Personnel need to set KPIs and do better in this space.

Today the Reserve Bank decided to leave interest rates at 4.35 per cent, which is good news. We don't want them going up any further. I want to say to people in my electorate: you can own your own home. You can get ahead. I know that cost of living is tough at the moment, but there is hope. You will be able to get there and, as your federal member, I want to do everything I can to help you. The reality is that in my time in government, under the coalition, there was one interest rate rise in nine years, and we saw 12 in the first 18 months of the Albanese government. The reality is that, if you have a mortgage of about $750,000, that's $30,000 a year extra in interest repayments. That means that you pretty well have to earn $45,000 extra a year gross just to pay the interest. No wonder rents and mortgages are increasing. We can do better, and the coalition has a strong plan.

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