Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker Hogan, congratulations on your new appointment as Deputy Speaker. I was delighted to join the Prime Minister and the ministers for Defence and Defence industry a couple of weeks ago at the Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera in Brisbane to announce that the Land 400 Defence contract's been afforded to Rheinmetall. This is the Army's biggest ever Defence commitment and it marks the next chapter for our growing Defence industry in Australia and also, specifically, for Brisbane.

Rheinmetall is committed to working directly with over 40 other local Australian businesses, meaning that we'll see this growing industry creating opportunities and high-value, high-worth jobs. This project will create hundreds of jobs, not just in Queensland but right across Australia. They will include advanced manufacturing, engineering and highly technical roles. Over the 30-year life of these vehicles, the Australian industry will secure two-thirds—that is a little bit over $10 billion—of the total investment in acquiring and maintaining this fleet.

The 26 federal coalition MPs and senators who came to be dubbed 'Team Queensland' fought very hard for this project, and it cements our state's reputation as Australia's home of Land Defence, given the presence of so many ADF personnel in both Brisbane and Townsville. This is good news for Australia and Brisbane.

We look forward to the innovation, the opportunities and the economic activity this project will bring, which will help the people of Brisbane and Queensland to prosper— (Time expired)