Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I think it shows a remarkable audacity on behalf of a Labor Party senator to raise the issues of defence spending, Australia’s defence preparedness, the build-up of Australia’s defence readiness and the acquisition of materials by the Australian Defence Force. That is firstly because when Labor had the chance to be in power they ran down Australia’s defence preparedness, our defence capital and our defence forces in terms of their capabilities and of the size of the defence forces and, therefore, the contribution that those defence forces can make to securing Australia. Secondly, it shows an incredible lack of serious interest in defence for Senator Faulkner—who is now skulking out of the chamber, because he has more important things to do, no doubt—to raise the issue of defence in the adjournment debate at 10 minutes to nine on a Tuesday night.

I would welcome the Labor Party coming into this place and moving a serious motion on defence issues and debating defence on the floor of this chamber on any day. Let us have a serious debate. Let us talk about the defence budget. Let us talk about our defence preparedness. Let us talk about Australia’s contribution to the defence of the region, our participation in the Pacific region, our participation in the Middle East, our contribution in Afghanistan, our contribution to liberating the people of East Timor, our contribution to peacekeeping and, of course, the substantial increase in Australia’s defence preparedness through the contribution that the Howard-Costello team and the Australian government have made to building up Australia’s defence.

Australia’s defence was run down through the Hawke prime ministership and the Keating prime ministership; it sunk to the lowest levels. Yes, this Prime Minister, John Howard, has a very serious interest in defence. That is one of the few accurate things that Senator Faulkner said. Yes, our Prime Minister takes a serious and substantial interest in defence spending and Australia’s defence preparedness. He is acutely aware of it. He works very closely on it because he knows that the first responsibility of an Australian Prime Minister, the first responsibility of an Australian government, in a world that is very uncertain and threatened daily is protecting Australia and looking after Australia’s interests. And that is why the Prime Minister has—and why the coalition is so proud of him—ensured that we have rebuilt Australia’s defences. Yes, we have undertaken some of the largest defence contracts and defence procurement contracts ever entered into in Australia’s history. We are proud of that. They are very big projects, very big contracts, and they will contribute towards a safe and secure Australia.

What Senator Faulkner did—and I invite anyone to read what he said about the management of our procurement programs—is to put all of the blame on the defence minister and the Prime Minister for any contract that might go over budget. When he recognises, to his credit, that improvements have been made since Malcolm Kinnaird’s review, he gives all the credit to the personnel in the Defence Materiel Organisation, the DMO. I suggest to Senator Faulkner that when he criticises the defence purchasing arrangements of the Australian government what he really does is to criticise the entire defence organisation. He criticises the ADF and the DMO, he criticises the defence minister and he criticises the Prime Minister, but what he is doing—