Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I was emphasising to the chamber that this is a bill about reducing red tape. This is a bill about making government more efficient. This is a bill about tidying up the legislative agenda and tabling of the nation. This is a bill designed to ensure that our country can operate with the least amount of intervention from government as possible. And yet what we have had is a complete distortion of this bill by those opposite, a complete distortion of the government's agenda in relation to the legislation before this chamber, and it has all been done quite transparently for base political purposes.

I too will be brief because I spoke on this last night, but it is important in the light of day to ensure that this chamber and those listening understand what has happened here. Last night, in an ambush move, those opposite came into this chamber and plucked a bill that was not even scheduled for debate this week, put it on the agenda to disrupt the orderly process of what the government is seeking to achieve, to disrupt the orderly decision-making we hope to have through this place, and they did this so that they could run a stunt—a stunt of inserting into this bill an amendment that is completely unrelated to the legislation before the chair, an amendment that has no bearing on it and an amendment that, frankly, is a gross overreach in terms of the actions that the Labor Party is seeking to pursue.

It was acknowledged last night by Labor senators that the submarine contract is Australia's largest procurement decision, and yet they want to try to guide it through this place in a stunt, an ambush. That is not the responsible path for decision-making in this country. We have committed to following the well-established proper processes that have been in place since 2003 for defence procurement decisions—a two-part process through cabinet and based on sound advice of the defence chiefs. That is the type of process we have committed to doing, something that successive governments have done, when they have had the courage to make defence procurement decisions—something that those opposite sorely lacked on most occasions. That is the process we are committed to upholding, not the type of stunt driven process that those opposite are seeking to deploy.

The truth is the Labor Party are more interested in stunts than they are submarines. The Labor Party are more interested in gestures than they are in jobs. Last night they wanted to bring to a vote matters around this stunt to put a submarine clause into unrelated legislation. But then we just had them vote against having a vote on this matter, with Senator Wong standing up and saying in her own special pious way, 'We want to get this matter over with and bring it to a vote.' If she wanted to bring it to a vote, Senator Wong had her chance. The Labor Party had their chance. Instead, they all lined up to vote against having a vote. Why did they do that? Of course they did that just so that Senator Wong could grandstand. Senator Wong and everyone else had 2½ hours last night in which there was ample time to grandstand. But Senator Wong chose not to grandstand last night, because that would not have suited the media cycle as well as it would for her to come in at the time that she did.

No amount of stunts, no amount of clever tactics or gestures from those opposite can get away from the basic facts. The basic facts around submarines are that in 2007 the Labor Party promised that if they were elected to government there would be action starting in 2007 around the procurement of submarines. Six years on and nothing was accomplished in that regard—six years of inaction based on a promise they took to the 2007 election and to the 2010 election, and promised repeatedly during their two terms in government. Six years of inaction is what has created the capability gap that this government confronts in relation to our most important and valuable defensive asset: our submarines.

Six years of inaction is what has put jobs at risk in Australia's shipbuilding industry, because it is six years of inaction that has created the so-called valley of death that the shipbuilding industry currently faces. It was not just inaction, it was not just that Senator Wong and Senator Conroy and those around the Labor cabinet table sat on their hands and did nothing for six years in relation to this major defence procurement; it was that they undertook damaging actions in that time. They cut the defence budget to the lowest level of GDP since 1938. How on earth did they think they were ever going to procure submarines with a defence budget cut of that level? They stripped the future submarine procurement program of hundreds of millions of dollars. How on earth did they think they were going to make a multibillion-dollar procurement decision while stripping the forward budget for that very program? It was those budget decisions that further added to the risk of a capability gap that we now face in making decisions about submarines. It was that slashing of the budget that created the situation of the potential valley of death and put jobs at risk.

Our government went to the last election committing that within 18 months we would make decisions about the future procurement of submarines. We went to the last election with a policy—a publicly released, written policy—something those opposite did not bother to release during the election campaign. That policy made clear that shipbuilding work would centre on South Australia's shipyards, that the Australian work in relation to submarines would centre on South Australia's shipyards. That is absolutely what will happen. We have stated time and time again that, as a result of the largest procurement decision in Australia's history in relation to submarines, there will be more jobs in the future at the South Australian shipyards. That is what everybody should take heart from. They should take heart from the fact that they now have a government in place, unlike the previous one, that will work through the proper processes, the established processes, the cabinet processes and informed by the advice of the defence chiefs, and make decisions in a timely and orderly manner—decisions to ensure that Australia does not face a capability gap in our defence assets, decisions to ensure that Australian taxpayers get the best value for money out of this multibillion-dollar procurement decision, and decisions that will preserve and protect for decades to come the jobs of South Australians employed in naval and submarine shipbuilding and maintenance work.

Let us cast aside the stunts of those opposite. They may have the numbers in this place to run around with their silly stunts, but on this side we are serious about getting submarines, filling the capability gap, protecting jobs and protecting what is important for taxpayers in terms of getting value for money. We will not be distracted by those stunts. We will not be distracted by the silly game-playing of those opposite. We will simply get on with the job of delivering the best possible outcome for all Australians.