Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

If I had taken the time to make a point of order on each and every point where Senator Abetz's contribution misled this chamber, I would have been on my feet constantly in that last 15 or 20 minutes, because almost nothing that Senator Abetz said about this amendment is true.

What this amendment does is recognise that the process has moved on and that it is too late, if we want to build our submarines, to avoid a capability gap that is now going to be acknowledged in the white paper. That is now the fault of this government for interfering in the processes and doing a deal with Japan to hand it over.

All this is saying—accepting that there is a process underway where each company is required to submit three bids, for a domestic build, a hybrid build and an overseas build—is: when it comes to the consideration in December of those three proposals, only consider the Australian builds. That is all the amendment says at its heart. Almost everything else that Senator Abetz raised, talked about and tried to introduce false information on was completely and utterly false and designed to confuse the debate in the chamber. When the facts do not suit, just create your own facts. That is the approach taken by this government. I do not want to hold the Senate up any more on this, but senators should not be fooled by that contribution by Senator Abetz. He got it completely wrong. This amendment does one simple thing at its core: when you get the three different types of bids from the three companies involved, only consider the Australian builds.

I urge senators to support what is best for this country, its defence needs and its capabilities and to support the shipbuilding industry in this country. As John White, lauded by Senator Abetz, said at the same Senate committee—and this should be the thing that every senator remembers—it is cheaper to build, maintain and sustain these submarines in Australia.

Any decision to build overseas will be a captain's pick—that this government made a promise to the Japanese Prime Minister and will roll over the good efforts of Senator Edwards and others in the coalition who recognise that the need for us to have an Australian shipbuilding capacity, as an island nation, is vital to this country's strategic and military interests.

The CHAIRMAN: The question before the chair is that the amendment moved by Senator Conroy on sheet 7749 be agreed to.

The CHAIRMAN: The question now is that the committee not insist on amendment (7) with which the House has disagreed, and agrees to the new amendment moved by Senator Conroy in its place.

Question agreed to.

The CHAIRMAN: The question is that the resolution be reported.

Resolution reported; report adopted.

The CHAIRMAN: The committee has considered message No. 334 from the House of Representatives relating to the Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2014) Bill 2014 and has resolved to insist on amendments (1) to (6) to which the House has disagreed and has not insisted on amendment (7) but has made an amendment in its place.