Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Defence. Will the minister update the House on why the government believes that national security should be our No. 1 priority? What is the government doing to act on that belief? How does this compare to other approaches?

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Science) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Send in Sergeant York. Horatio Nelson. See you later, General Pyne!

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield. The warnings don't last for a minute, okay? Leave under 94(a), please, and get on with it.

The member for Wakefield then left the chamber.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That'll increase the average IQ in the chamber! I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. We do take national security in this country seriously, unlike the member for Wakefield and unlike the members of the Labor Party. We do take defence and national security seriously. They think it's a joke. They think it's something to make fun of. That's what they think. That's what the member for Wakefield and the Leader of the Opposition think. They think that national security and defence are a joke in this country, and that's why they've subcontracted it out to the coalition to do national security and defence in this nation. Some of the members of the Labor Party used to take defence seriously, and they must hang their heads in shame and embarrassment that the member for Wakefield and the Leader of the Opposition think it's something to laugh about.

I was asked about national security and our beliefs. Our No. 1 belief in defence is to keep the service men and women of the ADF safe. That's our No. 1 priority. Our second priority is to give them the capability, through the procurement that we make into the Australian Defence Force, to make sure that they win, which keeps them safe. And our third priority is to use that defence heft to grow our economy, to grow our defence industry, to grow our defence industry sovereignty. That's why this government invested $200 billion over the next 10 years—$200 billion—in building that military capability to keep our service men and women safe, to keep them alive, to make sure they have the capability to win and to grow our sovereignty in defence industry. And it is working.

By contrast, when Labor was in power, they took money out of defence. They'd made big promises. I found that in the Labor Party's election manifesto in 2007 they promised to keep defence spending increasing in real terms every year at three per cent until 2016. They made the promise in 2007 that they would keep spending on defence increasing by a minimum of three per cent in real terms. What was the reality? The reality—and everyone's heard this number before—is that they reduced spending on defence to 1.56 per cent of GDP, the lowest level since 1938, the last year of appeasement. But I also found out that in 2010-11—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and they can shout as loud as they like—

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Eden-Monaro.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2010-11 they cut spending on defence by 6.4 per cent in real terms. In 2011-12 they cut it by 2.3 per cent in real terms and in 2012-13 they cut spending on defence by 9.2 per cent in real terms.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Eden-Monaro will cease interjecting.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So in three years they cut spending on defence by 17.9 per cent in real terms. That's why people trust this side of the House to deliver on national security. (Time expired)