Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Defence minister, wouldn't a China oil embargo, cutting off our sources in Singapore and South Korea, combined with regular trading vessels disembarking crews into China's port of Darwin and then such crews transforming into commandos, put Western Australia, across to the China-owned air base at Merredin, and the Northern Territory under complete control by China? Minister, from ancient Troy's Cassandra to Winston Churchill, wouldn't you agree that those who didn't heed the warnings suffered the consequences?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Putting it all together, I thank the honourable member for his question. I thank him for his passion for this country, for his electorate and for many causes over a long period of time in this chamber. He has worked very hard for people in regional areas, for people in northern Australia and for our country, so I acknowledge that.

The government has, in this budget, made a very significant investment into the top of our country, particularly into Darwin over the next decade. We provide about $8 billion, much of it targeting our Defence Force personnel, including visiting US forces. We make sure that we upgrade the facilities. We provide the additional training facilities that will make it an even more attractive destination for our coalition partners to train from. So, we will bolster our strength in the north and in the west. We obviously have a very significant investment of $270 billion over this decade into the equipment that we will provide to our personnel to keep Australia safe.

We've made decisions over the course of a number of years, not just in this budget, to put us in a position where we can keep our country safe. We have made decisions to secure our borders so that we can defend our country from the scourge of this virus. In this budget, we've provided support to Australians to try and keep them in jobs and to make sure that our economy grows, and we have invested in our Australian Defence Force personnel.

We've also put in significant money, through the minister for energy's recommendations to the Expenditure Review Committee, into fuel security. It is a very important issue for our country. I know the honourable member has had a very significant interest in this issue for a long period of time. But it is more important than ever that we get fuel security right, that we get supply chain surety and that we make sure that, through defence industry, we have the best possible defences against whatever threat might come our way in the years ahead. I'm proud that we have been able to invest in the Defence portfolio in a more significant way than any government in recent history. The cuts to spending on defence during Labor's years, when money went to pay for boat arrivals—but the wrong boat arrivals, people arriving on boats—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can sigh, but you presided over a disaster on our borders. You surrendered our sovereignty and handed it over to the people smugglers.

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

The defence minister can pause for a second.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We secured our borders.

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

The defence minister will pause. The defence minister will resume his seat. I asked the defence minister to pause twice. I presume he didn't hear me. That's why I asked him to resume his seat. The question was not about alternative policies. If there is anything of relevance the minister has got to add in the next 25 seconds, he can have the call.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In conclusion, I thank the member and, on your indulgence, wish the Prime Minister a happy birthday.

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

That was nice, but it wasn't relevant.