Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, I rise to voice my disgust at Labor's 2012-13 federal budget cuts of $5.5 billion from Defence over the forward estimates. Despite Labor's rhetoric, these cuts will have a long-term impact on our nation's defence capabilities. Next year's Defence budget has decreased in real terms by 10.5 per cent, which is the largest year-on-year reduction since the end of the Korean War. As a percentage of GDP, defence funding will be 1.56 per cent—the lowest since 1938. Defence personnel are having their conditions trashed, with the announcement that Labor has cancelled recreational leave travel for single members over the age of 21. This will affect around 22,000 ADF personnel, many of whom are based in my electorate of Solomon. When they joined Defence, these members were told that, if they were posted interstate, they would be able to go home a couple of times a year as part of their employment conditions. Now this employment condition has been breached. Mr Paul Potter, a constituent of mine whose son is now posted in Canberra, told my office that he was outraged that Australia's defence personnel were having their employment conditions slashed without any consultation whatsoever. He also said his son is keen to come home to Darwin and see his family but now he will not be able to afford to do so. Paul said he does not want these budget cuts to result in other families having breakdowns and falling apart. Surely we should not be discouraging any family reunions. The Minister for Defence and the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel should be ashamed of themselves.

In terms of budget cuts there is no doubt that my electorate will be impacted by the Defence funding cuts. Based on public information and letters from the chiefs of defence, in conjunction with industry analysis, we have determined where cuts and projects will be impacted in my electorate. At the RAAF Base Darwin, the first 12 JSF aircraft, AIR 6,000 phase 2A and phase 2B, have been delayed by two years and phase 2C has been delayed by one year. At Robinson Barracks 15 of the M1A1 Abrams tanks and 100 of the M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers are going to be mothballed. Also at Robinson Barracks the Tiger helicopters are having their flying hours reduced. To add to this, the Robinson Barracks redevelopment has been delayed by three years and the Larrakeyah Base redevelopment NORFORCE redeployment has been delayed by two years.

This Labor government does not understand the detrimental impacts of its decisions on electorates like mine. Only the coalition offers hope, reward and opportunity. We are committed to rebuilding defence and we will not treat our service men and women with the contempt— (Time expired)

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had a very productive visit last Thursday from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig, whom I hosted in my electorate of Page. We began at a breakfast at Brookfarm. You would have seen some of their products for sale in Parliament House and offered on various plane flights. Brookfarm is run by Martin and Pam Brook, and they run a really good show. They launched a new product, called Porrij, of which there are three different varieties. Who would have thought that porridge could be relaunched, rebadged and remarketed? There were great chefs there—the Byron at Byron chef, Gavin Hughes, and Fin's Steven Snow; two really eminent chefs—cooking Porrij, the humble porridge. We all tried it and it was wonderful. I brought some down to Parliament House with me and had it for breakfast this morning. It is a great local product. It just shows that small business can do great things when they are creative and innovative.

We then had a productive meeting with a whole range of representatives broadly from the red meat industry. There were about 24 of them. Some of them came to my office and some of them spoke over the telephone from all around Australia. They raised concerns that their voices were not being heard in Canberra because they were not speaking with one voice on clear strategies and clear issues, and I have talked about that in this place before. In responding to concerns they expressed that peak bodies such as MLA and Cattle Council of Australia were not representing them well enough, the minister said he was 'all ears' to suggestions as to how the job could be done better. However, he also said it was up to producers to drive any change, based on long-term strategy for the sector. He said, 'It doesn't matter sometimes whether it is a single voice or multiple voices. What matters is that they clearly articulate what their top 10 issues are, what their goals are and what their overall strategy is so that we can then work with the industry.'

I also had a meeting with the Chairman of the Northern Co-operative Meat Company, George Bennett, and the CEO, Simon Stahl, and talked about some of the stresses that the meat-processing sector was under. I got some good assistance with that and heard some good ideas. I finished up at Primex, the premier national primary industries exhibition. It showcases the industries and is a great boost to tourism and our local economy. It is held in Casino, the beef capital of Australia, which hosts the biggest Beef Week in Australia. I congratulate the Wright family, particularly Bruce, and Primex staff and volunteers for organising Primex, our largest regional trade and commercial exhibition. (Time expired)