David Fawcett (Wakefield, 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 the Australian government’s defence capability plan?

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

I thank the member for Wakefield for his question and a very deep interest in and commitment to defence issues. The defence capability plan refers to the long-term strategic commitment that the government makes to investment in Australian defence infrastructure. Yesterday, on behalf of the government, I released the defence capability plan for the decade from 2006 until 2016. It contains $51 billion in fully costed defence projects and, in addition to that, $31 billion in projects to be funded over the next 10 years.

It includes, for example, the government’s restated long-term financial commitment to the construction of three air warfare destroyers in Adelaide, South Australia, at a cost of $6 billion and, in addition to that, two LHDs, or amphibious ships, at a cost of $2 billion. The government has restated its commitment to the new air combat capability arrangements, at some $15 billion, and in addition to that, amongst many projects, the government will be replacing all of its Army land vehicles at a cost of around $2½ billion.

It is important to note that in our naval commitment, for example, there is more than half a billion dollars of new projects to improve the effectiveness of our naval air-surface capability. On Monday morning, the Prime Minister, amongst these projects, announced on behalf of the government—at a cost of $4.2 billion in total—that the Black Hawk helicopters will be replaced, as will the Sea King helicopters at Nowra, with the multirole helicopter, the MRH90.

Those investments are not just in the helicopters but are for the average Australian. People in Townsville, for example, will see another $30 million invested in infrastructure to support the 24 helicopters that will go there. The people of Gilmore will see a $40 million investment in Nowra to accommodate six MRH90s; at Oakey there will be a $30 million investment. Also, as the member for Hughes knows, we are investing $100 million in fully restructuring the Holsworthy facility to take 12 MRH90s. What is extremely important is that Australians recognise that the Howard government has made a very strong political commitment to the defence of this country and that, thanks to its leadership in economic management, has significant resources available to invest in the protection, security and defence of our country for the next decade and beyond.