Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

LAMBIE () (): I move:

That there be laid on the table by no later than midday on 7 December 2023 the answers to questions on notice Nos 2333 and 2336.

You guys have had this since August, and this is getting ridiculous. I'll be honest with you. We have a royal commission going, and it is beyond a joke anymore. For the whole time you were in opposition, one of the loudest messages we got from the Labor Party was about the lack of transparency from this side—from the coalition government. As opposition leader, the now Prime Minister promised to fix this and provide greater transparency, but here they are, 18 months after they were elected, not practising what they preached. They are hiding behind legal privilege, hiding behind claims of national security, and hiding from scrutiny and accountability.

This government is showing contempt for transparency. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that they are doing this in a national security space full stop. This is what is happening while our own ADF struggles to recruit and train personnel, struggles to deliver on procurement, struggles to build a ship and struggles to buy a submarine. Time and time again, we are reminded that the current Chief of the Defence Force and the current Secretary to the Department of Defence are just plain bad at their jobs. They're absolutely incompetent. Every time there is a problem, they point the finger at someone else. They won't take responsibility for their lack of action. God forbid they should actually show some real leadership and take responsibility, which is what a real leader does.

In response to a question regarding the signing-off of the MRH-90s return to service after the tragic incident earlier this year, the current CDF, who has been there for too long, pointed the finger squarely at the Chief of Air Force. He palmed it off again: 'I am not the senior airworthiness authority in Defence. That is the Chief of Air Force.' Instead of taking ownership of the tragic MRH-90 accident this year, General Campbell, as usual, choked at it and ducked and weaved. This is about as good as it gets from Campbell. It's the same pattern of behaviour: 'Not my problem, mate. Not my problem.'

We saw it with Operation Sovereign Borders with 'on-water matters', and we are seeing the same practice today.

He walks out of press conferences when he deems them political. When the political heat gets turned up on General Campbell, he takes off the mask and shows himself for the political animal that he is. He is a man who seeks to protect his career before he protects his own people. You wonder why we have a retention problem in Defence. He is not a leader; he is just a career bureaucrat, and always has been. That is the exact opposite type of person who should be in charge of Australia's Defence Force.

As for the secretary of the department, he is absolutely no better. He is full of absolute incompetence. He has been the biggest failure in this. Since he started in this role we have had failed frigate procurements, failed submarine procurements, failed helicopters and much more.

And you still keep them employed. What a joke this is. You still keep them employed. Both the CDF and the secretary are working against national security. They are not for national security. They should be gone. They are not up to the job. When are you going to wake up to this? What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for another tragic accident to happen and some more back covering? Seriously, this is beyond a joke. They can't recruit anyone, they can't build anything and they can't buy things.

What's more, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide can't even get information out of them. Defence has been accused of stonewalling. But what's new? That's what they do. Defence are still in their culture of cover-ups. You have been in government for 18 months and we still have the same cultural practice that is doing harm to those who are serving. It's doing harm to those who are serving and it's killing them. Delaying, which is what they do, and otherwise hindering the work of the royal commission is simply absolutely shameful. Worse even still is that Defence is doing this at a time when the suicide rate for current serving veterans is at its worst.

But we still leave those people in their jobs. When are we in here going to learn? It's like a business. If they can't get the job done then we should get rid of them, sack them. That's what we should do. That's commonsense.