Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I suppose that I am a bit surprised that the Liberal Party seems to have sunk to xenophobia on a range of fronts in recent times, be it on population, be it on foreign investment—and now it seems to be on the issue of defence contracting. Obviously the government are very much committed to supporting employment in this country and supporting defence contractors in this country. We have done a lot of work to try to support defence business in this country, to try to make sure that Australian companies get access to not only contracts here but also contracts in other nations. That has been highly successful in many respects. I know Senator Carr has taken an interest in this area through his industry portfolio, along with the previous Minister for Defence Materiel, Mr Combet. We are very committed to supporting jobs. That was a key part of our response to the global financial crisis. I am happy to take up any issue that Senator Johnston thinks he might want detailed information about. (Time expired)