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

Thank you, Senator Henderson, for the question and for your unrelenting support for Australian defence industry. The Morrison government is fully committed to delivering a globally competitive Australian defence industry that delivers three sovereign outcomes for our nation: firstly, to meet our contemporary defence needs; secondly, to create thousands of multigenerational jobs right here in Australia; and, thirdly, to achieve greater export success.

We are providing unprecedented opportunities for Australian industry to participate in defence work. We are very purposely and very deliberatively maximising opportunities for Australian industry involvement in defence programs. As our companies bid for work, they are now required to submit Australian industry capability plans detailing how they will maximise opportunities for Australian businesses. We absolutely hold these companies to account on their contracted commitments through enforceable deliverables. We are now also developing an independent Australian capability audit program to validate delivery of this contracted commitment.

At the heart of our industry policy is a commitment to support the global competitiveness of Australia's defence industry, as seen in our Defence Export Strategy. To that end, this government has committed $20 million per year to support Australia's defence industry achieve greater export success; we've established the Australian Defence Export Office and a grants program; we've appointed a Defence Export Advocate; we've released this year's Defence Sales Catalogue, the fourth and the largest; and, finally, we have also invested $1.3 billion to support Australian technical innovation in defence industry.