Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr. Will the minister guarantee that Australian manufacturers will continue to provide our diggers with their slouch hats?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Kroger for her question. The government is committed to value-for-money procurement and wishes to see maximum Australian industry participation in government purchasing. The Australian government has a number of programs to assist Australian companies become more competitive. Firms of the TCF industries benefit from industry specific programs supporting innovation and investment such as the TCF Strategic Investment Program and generally available programs such as Enterprise Connect. These programs boost competitiveness and therefore assist companies to win government contracts as well as private contracts.

The Commonwealth promotes Australian industry participation and supports the Industry Capability Network to help ensure Australian industry gets full, fair and reasonable opportunities to bid for Australian private sector business. I understand that the Department of Defence also has an Australian industry capability requirement that facilitates access to opportunities for local manufacturers. The defence department’s policy requires tenders for large contracts to demonstrate that local industry has been provided with supply chain opportunities. However, the eventual procurement decisions are made on the basis of the individual tender arrangements.

We have a situation where the senator is asking me to propose that there be a resolution of a tender arrangement before that tender process has been concluded. I remind the senator that these are decisions for the defence department, not the department of innovation, and that we will not be pre-empting proper tender arrangements. (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given the minister had some difficulty in responding to that one, I do have a supplementary question. Given the minister’s recent refusal to act to save jobs and production at Melba Industries, an Australian company that manufactures the uniforms of our SAS soldiers, is it a fact that our SAS troops will soon be wearing fully imported combat uniforms?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the senator that, under your government, over 40 per cent of defence contracts actually went to overseas firms. I will remind the senator of what actions were taken by your government in regard to the protection of Australian manufacturing industries. I will remind the senator of your woeful record on these issues. We have a situation where the current tender arrangements for the procurement of Australian slouch hats are based on company arrangements which have been in place for a number of years, and those arrangements were actually put in place by your government. I know that there are very limited opportunities in this chamber to actually deal with the level of hypocrisy and absolute— (Time expired)

Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Talk about hypocrisy—given that Australian soldiers will soon be wearing overseas made slouch hats and overseas made uniforms, driving overseas made vehicles and even wearing, I hate to say, overseas made jocks and socks, why did the government fail to provide any funding to support Australia’s manufacturing sector in their failed $52 billion cash splash?

Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The two Australian companies Mountcastle and Akubra currently supply slouch hats to the Australian Defence Force. These companies have supplied slouch hats since 2003 through contracts won from the previous competitive tendering process. The current contracts are expected to meet Australian Defence Force requirements to supply slouch hats until 2011. I am advised that Mountcastle have assured Defence that they have no plans to source a supply of slouch hats from overseas. The Department of Defence has undertaken to reopen the tender arrangements; that is the process that is underway at the moment. And attempts to sink to the very depths of hypocrisy on this issue should be condemned for the nonsense that they are.

Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.