John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I think I explained to Senator Johnston yesterday when he asked me a similar question about the Defence budget that when the budget was announced the government delivered a new financial plan. I indicated that it would fully fund the Defence white paper, and I think I mentioned the figure of $308 billion that I expected to be spent over the decade. What I did not have an opportunity to do yesterday—and I do very much appreciate an opportunity to expand on this today, courtesy of the question that Senator Johnston has asked—was to speak about what I described as the second element of the government’s financial plan, which of course is its Strategic Reform Program. I can inform Senator Johnston through you, Mr President, that that program will cut wasteful Defence spending. The Strategic Reform Program, as well as other savings initiatives, will deliver around $20 billion in savings across the decade. And, I might say—and this is a very important point—that those savings will be reinvested back into priority Defence programs and capability acquisitions. (Time expired)