David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I hear heckling from the other side. This is a gross embarrassment to them. They have dropped the ball. They hate Defence. They love to rip it off. They love to grab every bit of money and put all the plans into disarray. The Defence Capability Plan is an absolute scandal in its dysfunctionality. They do not stick to any of the milestones and they do not spend the money, so Australian industry is left wondering when it is ever going to be thrown a bone. This is a government that is chronically good at mucking things up and undermining stability in portfolios, particularly in the Defence portfolio. They are absolutely a gold-medal prospect when it comes to wasting and spending money. That is why we are here: these appropriation bills just give this government another blank cheque to waste more and more money.

What about industry? You would think this government would support Australian indigenous defence industry. They came up with priority industry capabilities—PICs, they are called in acronym form—and strategic industry capabilities—they are called SICs. You would think they would support Australian priority industry capability. They even said that the disruptive pattern combat uniform—that is, the camouflage uniform that our soldiers wear in battle—should be produced in Australia, and yet we caught them, red-handed, going off to China. Having developed low-observable infrared technology in the weave of this clothing, we gave the Chinese the specification. That is what this government does—its incompetence knows no bounds. We have actually shown potential adversaries the weakness and vulnerability of our technology which we took—and I got the evidence from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation—about 15 years to develop. The government gave it to the Chinese because they were looking to save a few bucks.

This is the level of incompetence of these people. They have absolutely no idea about national security. They have absolutely no idea about the cost of readiness and the capacity to respond not just to threats but to national disasters. And look at all the projects that are currently being delivered to the Australian Defence Force. For example, the landing helicopter dock ships—Brendan Nelson and Robert Hill did those. The Joint Strike Fighter—Robert Hill did that. The air warfare destroyer—Robert Hill did that. All of the great projects that are going to see us secure into the next decade have been delivered by Liberal ministers. What has this government done to Defence other than rip the financial rug out from underneath it and leave us ever so vulnerable at a 1937 level of spend? That is what their claim to fame is: 1937. And heaven help us if we have a problem in the next five years.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for a later hour.