Mark Bishop (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry, Procurement and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance and Administration, Senator Minchin. I refer to the government’s budget commitment that Defence will receive a three per cent real increase in funding each year to 2016. While this is a welcome announcement to meet the security challenges facing Australia, what is the identifiable risk to future defence budgets from the continuing mismanagement of defence projects? I refer to yet another adverse Audit Office report into a defence project, the Tiger helicopter, which is some $276 million over budget. Given the involvement of Department of Finance and Administration officials in the defence procurement processes, and the minister’s responsibility for budget accountability, what has the minister done to ensure that taxpayers’ money is not squandered and frittered away?