Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government's record investment in Australia's defence industry is helping to create jobs and drive our economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession?

Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question and I thank her for not only her support and passion for defence industry in our country but also her efforts with respect to her local manufacturing sector. The Morrison government is investing an historic $270 billion over the next decade in our defence capability, and I am particularly proud of our defence spend in regional Australia, backing regional jobs and backing regional businesses.

Our record investment is driving our economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession, including in the member's home state of New South Wales. Like the member for Lindsay, my friend and colleague and senator for New South Wales Hollie Hughes has done an outstanding job of backing the local defence industry in the Hunter region. Over the last month, Senator Hughes and I have had the great pleasure of announcing over $50 million worth of investment in the Hunter region alone. The local contractors have got the benefit of being involved in a number of local projects like our investment of $42 million in the iconic Singleton military base. Importantly, some 82 per cent of the subcontract packages will go to local Hunter businesses. That is great news for them and great news for that region. There will be around some 650 regional jobs created by this project over a two-year construction period. In more good news for the Hunter, we also announced the investment of $3.2 million in the Hunter based firm Armor Composite Engineering, who are developing protective curved body armour for the ADF. In addition to this, we announced an investment of $7 million in Newcastle based BlueZone Group to develop unmanned-surface-vehicle technology for our men and women in uniform. These New South Wales businesses have benefited significantly from our investment in innovation through our Defence Innovation Hub.

Not all ideas that are good come from the city, and I think I've just demonstrated that with those great examples from the Hunter region. There are great ideas in regional Australia that will deliver for the defence of our nation. That's why we continue to back those excellent regional businesses in the Hunter region, and we'll continue to support the growth of the Australian defence industry with another $800 million available for good ideas, with respect to the Defence Innovation Hub, helping to create more jobs and driving defence industry businesses as we recover from this COVID-19 recession.