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

I was so excited, Mr President! I thank Senator Abetz for his question and for his enduring interest in and support for defence and defence industry. I can advise colleagues that, since my appointment as Minister for Defence, I've worked closely with my counterpart, the French minister for defence, Florence Parly, to ensure that the French government is supportive of and that Naval Group is meeting our government's expectations for Australian industry involvement in the Future Submarine program. I welcome Ms Parly's commitment to me, and that from Naval Group, that they will achieve at least 60 per cent Australian industry involvement in the program. But this government is not just focusing on minimum benchmarks. I am holding and I will continue to hold Naval Group to account to ensure that they maximise Australian industry involvement, as outlined in their obligations through our strategic partnering agreement.

Through you, Mr President, to Senator Wong: this is an ambitious program capability, one that is also matched by its ambitions for Australian defence industry to deliver a sovereign capability. Our government's position is crystal clear: we are maximising Australian industry involvement. The Auditor-General recently concluded that we have the right partnering agreement to pursue this objective. The Future Submarine program underpins the growing strategic partnership between Australia and France, and I very much look forward to continuing my productive dialogue with Minister Parly as we deliver this critical national security capability for Australia. Minister Parly and I have agreed on an ongoing process to review at our level the implementation of the program on a quarterly basis for the rest of this year—meeting again in France in April and in Australia midyear.