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

I thank Senator Scarr for that question, and I'd also like to acknowledge your engagement and support for Queensland industry—thank you. Australia's burgeoning defence industry is essential to ADF operations and it's also critical to generating the capability we need here to protect Australia and our nation's interests. Because of the Morrison government's strong economy, we are able to invest a record $200 billion in completely transforming the ADF and to take our defence expenditure up to two per cent of GDP—something that those opposite completely failed to do. Not only are we completely re-equipping the ADF; we are also the first government to fully engage and support Australian industrial capability through programs such as the $90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Plan, the $20 billion to modernise the Australian Army's fighting vehicles and the $18 billion to deliver the next generation of strike and air combat aircraft systems.

This is an opportunity not only for primes but also for small to medium business, which are the engine room of the Australian economy. In fact, in the last financial year alone, over $8 billion of defence contracts were awarded to Australian SMEs, which equates to thousands and thousands of new high-tech jobs right here in Australia. A great example of this growth is that, since the inclusion of the Local Industry Capability Plans in major construction contracts, 80 per cent of all subcontracts are going to local companies right across this nation, which directly benefits local businesses and injects over $3 billion into local economies right across our nation. In addition, the government is investing about $1.5 billion across the Next Generation Technologies Fund and also the Defence Innovation Hub. We are supporting defence industry and we are backing them in and we're backing— (Time expired)