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

As the senator is aware, any budget decisions taken in relation to defence have been made with the clear policy intent that there will be no impact on operational activity or front-line defence operations—no impact at all. As part of the government's budget priorities, the fact is that we have asked Defence to take some responsibility for that, as we have with many other departments. It is the fact that defence continues to have an allocation that is at record levels—I think, more than $100 billion across the forward estimates. That remains a very, very serious commitment to the defence of this nation and the capacity of our defence forces to continue to provide first-class defence for Australia. (Time expired)