Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence. Would the minister update the House on government investments in defence, including any changes to the Royal Australian Air Force’s heavy airlift capability?

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macquarie for his question and his very strong commitment to the Air Force presence at the Richmond base in his electorate. The first and most important priority of this government is the defence and security of Australians, Australia and its interests. Consistent with that, I announced on behalf of the government earlier this month that the government will purchase at least three and probably four C17 Globemasters, built by Boeing, through the United States Air Force. These are very big planes. They are about the size of a 747. They carry almost four times as much as a C130 Hercules, a plane which is very well known and familiar to everyday Australians.

It is important that we appreciate that, as the government builds the strength of Australia’s Defence Force, we have the capacity to move our people and our equipment not only into other parts of the world but to parts of Australia when we need them and where we need them—for example, the C17s, the first of which we expect to arrive in Australia before Christmas this year. If there is a cyclone in the western part of Australia which wreaks the kind of devastation that unfortunately we have seen with Cyclone Larry, one C17 can move from RAAF Richmond in Sydney to the west coast of this country in five hours—it would take four C130s 12 hours to do.

We are also determined that, as we face the future, Australia will continue to increase its investment in defence, and that requires two things. It requires political will and a government that is strongly committed to investment in defence and its people. The second thing it requires is money. This expenditure is around $2 billion of additional money, which Australia can afford to spend in addition to the $28½ billion the government announced in increased investment in defence in 2000. The reason the government can afford to do this is that this country has been extremely well led and managed economically over the last 10 years. This is about Australia’s future and we are determined to see that Australia is independent, that we will not have to rely on leasing ageing Antonov for heavy lift nor wait in queues for American airlift. Australia is and will increasingly become an independent country in every sense of the word.