Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the Seasprites, the early work on this project was of course established under the previous Labor government. The requirement for the aircraft was established when the tender for this project was released in 1995 by the previous Labor government, so let us not have any hearsay on that matter.

The Kinnaird review, established by former defence minister Senator Robert Hill, was an outstanding piece of work. The Kinnaird review has introduced for the first time a very strict and proper approach to the DMO’s work. The Defence Materiel Organisation has been restructured to ensure that it really does approach defence contracts in a professional way and that it has the people, the facilities, the capacity and the procedures to ensure rigorous assessment of defence projects when they come before the government. I am pleased to advise that currently 146 acquisition projects, or 72 per cent, are progressing on schedule. Fifty-seven projects are behind schedule. I want to applaud what DMO has done. DMO, which is under enormous pressure, has adapted to the Kinnaird process that we put in place. The NSC now has the benefit of input from my own department when it comes to consider defence projects of this kind.

Because of the government’s very good economic management, our generation of surpluses and our paying off of Labor’s debt we are able to make significant defence acquisitions. We are in a position where we can make a decision to acquire Abrams tanks and additional aircraft for the Air Force to make sure there is no capability gap. So we are not going to be lectured to by the Labor Party on this matter. They presided over a disaster in relation to defence matters. They know full well that the Collins class submarine project, while having now produced world-class submarines, was a disaster in terms of its management. The management of the project under the Labor Party was appalling, so we are not going to be lectured by Labor. We are proud of the way in which we have reformed the acquisition processes adopted by this government, the projects that we have been able to agree on and the funding that we are able to provide for defence while ensuring that this country remains in sound financial health.