Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Might I remark, Madam Speaker, you might boot me out!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have no desire to see whether or not he is wearing shoes at this particular moment.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Defence. Australian combat troops refuse to use the Austrian Steyr rifle; they use the American ArmaLite, which can be produced in Australia for half the price. At Anzac Day, soldiers marched in their socks since the soles had fallen off their Chinese boots. Australian ordnance and ammunition is manufactured mainly by a French owned company. The slouch hat is partly foreign. Will the government support Rossi and the Senate demand for a fall inquiry into procurement or remain free market, with the policy destroying Australia's manufacturing and gutting Australia's sinews of war?

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me thank the honourable member for his question. Can I firstly go through the facts of the Rossi tender so we all understand within the parliament exactly what we are talking about. The Department of Defence released a tender in June last year for the supply of three types of footwear: a fireman's industrial boot, a fawn coloured industrial protective boot and a black coloured protective footwear. There was no mandated requirement for Australian content as it does not relate to the combat uniform. The tender was conducted as a routine procurement within the department and, therefore, there is no requirement to notify government of it.

The previous industrial protective footwear requirement was established in July 2011 for two years with Lymington Pacific, who manufactured the boots in China. This tender replaces those boots that have been made in China for the last two to three years. Ten tenderers replied and there were 14 individual offers for the fawn coloured and the black coloured boot. Rossi Boots—the boots the member for Kennedy is displaying here—tendered for the fawn and black industrial footwear. They were not successful in tendering for the fawn industrial footwear, due to overall value for money considerations—in other words, they were considered too expensive. The successful bidder is a company called Amare Safety—a privately owned company located in Mulgrave, Victoria. The boots will be supplied by Steel Blue, who will manufacture the boots in Indonesia. For the last three years, those industrial boots have been manufactured in China on behalf of an Australian company; now, they will be manufactured in Indonesia by an Australian company. This tender was released by the previous government. It had no mandated Australian requirements, and the decision has been made by the department.