Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It is disappointing, but I have to say there's no greater threat to defence investment in this country than those opposite, because the last time they were in office their addiction to debt left them unable to make the sort of crucial investments we need to keep Australians safe. During their final three years in office, they cut defence investments by almost 18 per cent, leading to the lowest level of defence spending since 1938, at only 1.56 per cent of GDP. That has real impacts on defence capability and on jobs. Under those opposite—under the Australian Labor Party—119 defence projects were delayed, 43 projects were degraded and eight projects were straight-out cancelled. They didn't commit to the build of one single naval vessel in Australia in six years in government. During their last period in government, defence industry shrank by 10 per cent, so we could not be taking a more different approach than those opposite. We are bringing the budget— (Time expired)