Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Good form? Well, that just makes it even worse if you said 'good form'—form most certainly yes; good form most certainly no. In relation to that matter, it is a real pity that Senator Bishop was not making these sorts of comments and suggestions when his preferred prime ministerial candidate was actually running the show. I think if you listen to what Senator Bishop said, implicit in that was his view that in the last two years, under the present Prime Minister, we have seen slippage in relation to the defence budget. I will just go through what the form is, so that there is no doubt in anyone's mind about what the form is. Dennis Richardson is the fourth Secretary of Defence in the last four years under this government. That is form number one. Twenty-five billion dollars has been slashed from the defence budget since the Australian Labor Party came into power. That is form number two. Good form, Senator Bishop calls it; bad form, I call it. Spending in GDP terms is at 1937 levels—1.49 per cent next year. Good form? I do not think so. Bad form—most definitely!

I now want to refer to some of the comments made by other commentators in this area in relation to this crisis facing the Department of Defence—a crisis in a funding sense and the ensuing crisis of confidence amongst those who are serving this nation. I think it was Senator Humphries, and maybe Senator Johnston as well, who referred to Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, a former Chief of Army, who said that the current round of cuts, these cumulative cuts, will undoubtedly lead to personnel reductions and a crisis of confidence in the defence forces. I want to read a comment from Dr Mark Thomson in his 2012 ASPI defence budget analysis. He said:

The plans set out in 2009 are in disarray; investment is badly stalled, and the Defence budget is an unsustainable mess.

We all know that the former defence secretary, Duncan Lewis, who was an ex-special forces commander and National Security Adviser, has had a frosty relationship with Minister Smith for some time. Lewis recently stated at an ASPI dinner:

As things stand I don’t think we are structured or postured appropriately to meet our likely strategic circumstances in future.

So that is five bits of bad form, not good form, as Senator Bishop said at the start of his contribution. That is five bits of really bad form.

What is the outcome of this bad form? The outcome, as we know from media reports today, is that the cadets are now the next ones in the gun. They are the next ones whose funding will undoubtedly be cut. I could stand here for two hours and talk about the benefits of the Australian Defence Force Cadets. I will not do so and I would be bitterly disappointed if there was anyone in this place who does not support cadets.

The other outcome, just one that I can think of straight off the top of my head, in relation to these five points of bad form was the stripping in the federal budget of recreation leave travel entitlement for single ADF members aged 21 and over. It has been changed. The fact that it was even contemplated is an absolute reflection on this government, a complete and utter reflection on this government. It was only changed because the ex-services community and others said this was completely and utterly untenable.

Why are we in this position? We are in this position because this current Prime Minister, in a desperate attempt to get herself through to November of this year, when Kevin Rudd can no longer contest the prime ministership because we will be in an election year next year, is spending like a drunken sailor to maintain her position in the polls and within her party, all of which is unsustainable. We are now confronted with a $120 billion black hole. We are seeing a government lurch from financial crisis to financial crisis. Treasurer Swan at question time today refused to rule out any raid on the Future Fund—the last bit that the Australian Labor Party has not been able to get its grubby mitts on has been the Future Fund. This is a Prime Minister who is spending purely to keep her job. She has no concern for the job of anyone else in this country and she certainly has no concern for the Australian Defence Force and the personnel who are serving this country so well.