Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. Will the minister outline for the House how the Morrison government's investment in defence industry is creating more Australian jobs as part of our comeback 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 Stirling for his question and also acknowledge and thank him for his service to our Defence Force. I also acknowledge and thank the thousands of Australian men and women who, like him, have worn the Australian uniform to keep us safe.

The Morrison government's $270 billion investment in defence capability is contributing significantly to our comeback from the COVID-19 recession. As we all know, due to COVID-19 our airline industry has struggled this year, with many Australians losing their jobs. The Deputy Prime Minister has outlined to the House on many occasions recently how we have committed more than $2.7 billion in support of the aviation sector. Because of our growing investment in defence industry, companies are recruiting those who have lost their jobs in the airline industry. What that means is that these people are able to gain new skills in the defence industry but they also bring their existing skills with them when transitioning to a new industry. More than 150 Qantas and Virgin technical staff have already been offered employment with Australian defence industry companies. I want to give a shout-out to a couple of companies who are reaching out to and taking advantage of those very highly skilled airline employees: Northrop Grumman Australia, BAE Systems Australia, Airbus Australia Pacific and CAE. We know that there are many other airline staff who are transitioning to our growing defence industry. One of those is former Qantas worker Clarence Ong. Clarence was a customs service manager with Qantas, who has now secured a job as a documents control administrator with Luerssen Australia. Clarence will very proudly help to deliver those 12 offshore patrol vessels for our Navy down in Henderson in Western Australia. Clarence is one of the many Aussies who are playing a very critical role in our defence industry.

Melbourne based DefendTex is a growing defence SME trialling drone technology with our ADF and forces abroad. DefendTex has achieved global success with its technology called Drone-40, which will be used on operations abroad by our allied forces later this year and into next year. This has been possible through the millions of dollars of investment by the Morrison government in DefendTex. A couple of days ago, I was contacted by the CEO of DefendTex, Travis Reddy, who shared his views about the Morrison government's support to defence industry. He said, 'It is very reassuring to see the Australian government supporting initiatives which build our sovereign capability, creating jobs and career prospects for the next generation of university graduates and tradies'. Our comeback from the COVID-19 recession is creating a stronger defence industry, creating businesses, creating jobs— (Time expired)