Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You could be forgiven for thinking that this government's new defence minister, its fifth defence minister in eight years, in his clamouring to get his hands on the keys to the kingdom, had neglected, failed to read, his brief. It's like he magically missed the pages about cost blow-outs. It is so galling when this government talks about and compares and contrasts Labor governments past and how they have handled defence and how this present government is handling defence. Defence contracts have blown out to the tune of billions of dollars under this government, with the Future Submarines program running over by $40 billion and the Future Frigate program by $10 billion. So this government that would have us believe that they are the economic geniuses, they are the maestros of money, has had the most significant blow-outs and delays in our national sovereignty and security than any government before. It is truly remarkable and galling.

I can't decide if the Morrison government is neglecting its responsibilities or hopelessly incompetent. Perhaps it is genuinely a mixture of both. Common sense would dictate that those opposite shouldn't boast about increased defence expenditure when they have not managed at all the expenditure that they already have. Every question time, we see the Minister for Defence jump up and respond to dorothy dixers in this vein. It seems as though we have ever-shrinking lead times but ever-expanding excuses, even from the new minister who's hardly had time, as I said, to get his hands on the keys to the defence cupboard.

As well as being indecisive and secretive and presiding over massive cost blow-outs, we know the government is cutting defence capital expenditure. The latest Morrison government budget forecasts $4.3 billion in cuts to defence capital acquisition budgets over the next three years—again: this government has forecast $4.3 billion in cuts to defence capital equipment. This is the equipment that we use to keep our nation secure. In the same breath, this minister taps his foot while those who advise him speak of the chance of the drums of war. It is truly remarkable. After five defence ministers in eight years, we need a minister who is focused on delivering defence capability on time and on budget.

I want to take a minute to talk about some of the missed opportunities in this government's defence spend. This government is missing vital opportunities to create thousands of jobs and opportunities to build IP for small and medium businesses across Australia because it isn't investing enough in Australian firms. We have a real opportunity, through defence spending, to build the intellect and the know-how and to do the actual build of what goes into our defence procurement, and we are missing this opportunity.

Now, there are some bright lights on that horizon that, even though they haven't been very well supported by their government in many respects, are still getting on with this. Murray Consulting Solutions is one such example in my electorate of Paterson. They employ over 40 staff. The business has grown because they have successfully engaged themselves in the areas that they see we are going to need in defence in the future. They do fantastic work and have built a cutting-edge, first-class team. But they know there is so much more to do.

So, as I've talked to people who are involved in defence industry, the one big thing they've said to me is: 'The government needs to be spending money to help us build our capacity so that we can build the capacity of defence, so that we can build the defence of our nation.' I appeal to the minister, I appeal to the Prime Minister: help Australian businesses build, and help them defend our nation.