Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to take note of this issue. Mr Deputy President, for the benefit of Senator Cameron, I would like to clarify some of the issues that he raised. First of all, he might be interested to know that yesterday, the Premier of South Australia welcomed the federal government's approach. If Senator Cameron does not understand what the competitive evaluation processes are, I would like to remind him that they are processes that his own government used in 2010 to do an evaluation process of the MH-60 naval helicopter capability, after undertaking a competitive evaluation of the respective offers. So not only has the previous government used this process, the South Australian Premier has commended the government for this approach, and he has commended the minister for his comments yesterday.

I would like to remind those opposite about the facts. Instead of a lot of overblown rhetoric, I would like to take them back to the facts of this issue. Under Labor, defence spending fell to 1.6 per cent of GDP, its lowest level since 1938. In 2012-13, Defence suffered the biggest single cut to its budget—10.5 per cent—since the Korean War. Under Labor—not under the coalition—200,000 jobs were lost, and defence industry under Labor had to shed over 10 per cent of its workforce. I have to wonder, listening to Senator Cameron, where was he then? Where were the unions then, when the defence industry had to shed jobs? The fact is that the Defence Capability Plan under Labor was never affordable or deliverable. It was $18 billion underfunded to deliver Force 2030. Here are some facts that demonstrate just how bad it was under the previous government: 119 projects were delayed, 43 were reduced, and eight projects, all up, were cancelled. In 2007, in relation to the submarines, Kevin Rudd said that Labor would ensure the submarines were built by the ASC. He said the process would begin in 2017 so that it could go out for contracts in 2011. Still nothing had been done by 2013, but the Labor government promised that 12 new submarines would be built. But again there were no plans and no funding. Not only did Labor not fund the submarine project; they took $20 billion out of forward estimates and beyond for the project. Where were the Labor senators from South Australia then? Where was the AMWU then—when they were not only losing jobs but the future submarine program was never funded? In six years under Labor not a single ship was commissioned.

I would also like to address a bit further Senator Cameron's comments in relation to this government and jobs—in particular, that we are 'ideologically focused'. Absolutely we are! We believe in jobs and we believe in supporting small business. Again, there are some rather inconvenient facts for those opposite: in 2014 alone 213,000 new jobs were created under this new government. That is 585 new jobs every single day last year—a new job every 2½ minutes, every single day. Job creation is actually running at triple the pace it was under Labor. Where were those opposite, where were the unions, when this was occurring last year? In fact, 223,000 new companies were registered in Australia in 2014, an increase of almost 10.2 per cent. Where were the trade unions? Where were the senators opposite in encouraging and supporting new businesses, which meant new jobs all around the country? This current government is ideological. We do believe in investing in infrastructure and we are getting on with the projects. There are 85 projects currently under construction and another 94 in development. (Time expired)