Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government investing in defence to keep Australians safe after a decade of mismanagement in defence?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

MARLES (—) (): Last Monday I signed, on behalf of the government, the AUKUS naval nuclear propulsion agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom at Australia's embassy in Washington, DC. This is a foundational part of the legal underpinning of the announcement that was made by our three countries in San Diego last year, and it is another critical step forward in delivering AUKUS.

When we came to power, AUKUS was really not much more than a thought bubble, but since then we have been turning it into a reality. We have determined the actual pathway by which Australia will acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability. We have now passed multiple tranches of legislation which have included the establishment of the Australian Submarine Agency and, along with legislation that was passed by the US Congress last year, we have created a seamless defence industrial base between our two countries, which is so critical to delivering this project. Most importantly, we have provided the increased funding in the budget to deliver AUKUS and much, much more—funding which those opposite did not provide. All of this has happened because what the Albanese government says, it does, and this stands in stark contrast to those opposite.

The shadow minister is reported in the media today as saying that on the one hand he would like to see an increase in war stocks by 2026 but, on the other, he is refusing to commit to an increase in defence spending against what those opposite promised in the last election—which, to remind everyone, is $50 billion less over the decade than what this government has in the budget right now. The difference between the rhetoric and the reality is profound, but it should not be a surprise, because this was the business model of the Leader of Opposition when he was the defence minister. He oversaw $42 billion worth of unfunded defence announcements in addition to 28 different projects which were running 97 years overtime.

The complete dysfunction in the defence delivery, combined with the historic overprogramming of the defence budget, is the literal last will and testament of the worst defence government that this country has ever seen. They were terrible in government. Today, we see they are no better in opposition. The Albanese government is doing the detailed work making the difficult decisions to deliver AUKUS and keep Australians safe. (Time expired)