Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why is a forward-looking defence strategic review important to ensure our nation's security is enhanced?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Tangney for his question. This afternoon, the defence minister and I will receive the Defence Strategic Review from the great Angus Houston, who has served Australia so well for such a long period of time. This is about preparing Australia for the challenging strategic circumstances that we face. We committed to, and I announced well before the election, a defence force posture review, but we decided to elevate that to a full strategic review, looking at not just where our Defence Force assets were but what our Defence Force assets are so that we improve our capability, because, of course, it's not just about how many dollars are spent; it's about whether those dollars are going towards creating capability improvements to defend our nation, as the minister has just pointed out. We want to make sure that our assets are fit for purpose and that they deliver the greatest return on investment.

So I thank Angus Houston and Stephen Smith for the extraordinary work that they did. And I thank not just all our defence forces and those in the public who made submissions; I also thank the international partners who met with us and who engaged with the review.

It's quite clear that we need to do better. When we came to office, we inherited 18 major projects running a combined $6.5 billion over budget; 28 major projects running a combined 97 years late; and a future frigates program that's $15 billion over budget and delayed into the next decade. Those opposite had six defence ministers in eight years, and the shadow minister said:

Yes, we also squandered a lot of opportunity through the leadership changes.

The former minister himself, the Leader of the Opposition, said last year:

I wish that we could have acquired more capability within Defence earlier …

Well, that's precisely what we are doing: making sure that we're actually big on delivery, not just on announcements.

I do note the matter of public importance today. Matters of public importance are usually looking forward, but, extraordinarily, the matter from the shadow defence minister is 'The continuing consequences of the last Labor government's defence spending cuts'. It's as if the last decade just didn't happen.