Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The senators on the other side are feigning outrage or confected outrage. It is as if they have airbrushed those six years of budget delinquency out of their history. Now, 11 months later we are still trying to fix the mess that you left, and today we have in the media, the South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill saying:

The reason we won that contract is because we had powerful voices in the federal Cabinet, like Nick Minchin, Robert Hill, Amanda Vanstone and Alexander Downer, who stood up and advocated for SA.

He said that this afternoon, but he never mentioned, not once, the powerful voices that were there for six years—a critical time given the valley of death was approaching. He never mentioned Senator Wong, Senator McEwen, Senator Gallacher or the most chivalrous Senator Farrell, who graciously stood aside for Senator Wong, nor did he ever mention their coalition partners, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young or Senator Wright. He did not mention anyone from the other house—Mr Butler, Ms Rishworth, Mr Champion, Mr Zappia or Ms Ellis. Why? Because they do not exist. During the six years they were in government, when they had their hands on the purse, they never once stood up for South Australia over this issue—despite the fact that their then Prime Minister had promised to build submarines in that state and then did not.

It got spirited away under the reign of Prime Minister Gillard. Where did it go? Senator Cameron, I see you shaking your head over there. You did not know where it went either. That is right: you were not in cabinet at the time. It was not your fault either, was it? All you want to do—those of you on the other side contributing to this debate—is blame someone else. But the state Labor government in South Australia has presided over the largest budget deficit in that state's history. Now we are hearing in evidence that it will only take a couple of hundred million dollars to refit the areas in Adelaide where we can build lots of ships. It is so airy-fairy. Money is just like confetti to those of you on the other side. You spray it all around. There is no fiscal discipline at all. Now the Minister for Defence has to come in and sort all this out.

You over there have compromised South Australia. Each and every one of you Labor-Greens alliance members in that last Rudd-Gillard-Rudd administration were delinquent. You abdicated your responsibility for ensuring the industrial nature of that precinct was protected. I am not going to stand here while you vilify people who do know how to count, who do know how to budget and who do know how to get value for money for taxpayers. The Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence are looking to ensure that value for money. I should include the Minister for Finance, who is here. He has to sit down there and try to work through all the health budgets, education budgets and defence budgets, the whole wickerwork of financial obscurity that you people presided over—and you wonder why we shake our heads when you go on with your confected outrage.

I am sure we will get a contribution from Senator Cameron and I bet it will be his usual picket-line rhetoric. He will say, 'You don't like jobs in South Australia.' I am sorry; that was a bad imitation—I apologise. But we expect to hear the usual union tub-thumping: 'It is all the bosses' fault'. In fact, the bosses were trying to tell the government at the time, but the government had no capacity to understand any of the business drivers, any of the reasons why this whole program has been put in such jeopardy. Labor had a $40 billion budget for this—when you can build the 12 submarines we need for $14 billion. Even the most ardent Labor supporters would have to say the maths is not right. I look forward to the rest of the hearing. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.