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

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston. Can the minister inform the Senate of the steps the government is taking after six years of Labor budget cuts and inaction in defence to ensure that the Royal Australian Navy does not face any maritime capability gaps?

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Kroger for her question and for her commitment to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. As an island nation, one of our highest priorities is maritime security. The Royal Australian Navy does an outstanding and professional job in fulfilling that role, but it must have, should have and, under us, will have the right equipment. Under Labor's watch, $16 billion was cut from defence. As a result, 119 projects were delayed, 43 were reduced and eight were cancelled. This is the mess we inherited. We were promised an updated Defence Capability Plan but this never eventuated. Such was the mess in this portfolio that Labor never even bothered to produce a defence policy going into the last election. They simply gave up.

The Abbott government takes defence and security seriously. We have taken the first steps to ensure the Navy is properly equipped. Many of us in this chamber would know that HMAS Success, commissioned in 1986, is old and in urgent need of replacement. Labor did nothing about this. We have taken decisive action. This is an absolutely vital capability providing fuel, aviation fuel, ammunition, and stores and provisions to our frigates as and when they move around our vast EEZ. Construction of these vessels is simply beyond Australian industry. We cannot produce 26,000-tonne ships. Our view, supported by the Chief of Navy, is that we need to urgently move on replacing these ships. The only responsible option is the one we have put on the table—between Navantia and DSME of South Korea. I shall have more to say in a moment about the lost opportunity of the wasted years of the Labor government on this matter. (Time expired)

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When there is silence on both sides we will proceed. If you wish to debate it, debate it after the end of question time, not now. Senator Kroger has the call.

Senator Sterle interjecting—

Senator Conroy interjecting—

Senator Sterle and Senator Conroy, I have given the call to Senator Kroger.

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

They can jump over here and take the question if they want! I thank the minister for that considered response. Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate what steps the government is taking to support the Australian shipbuilding industry, which, after six years of Labor budget cuts, project deferrals and project cancellations, had shed up to 10 per cent of its workforce?

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Abbott government believes that Australian shipbuilding has a strong future. That is why the finance minister and I took the steps we did last week to get the Air Warfare Destroyer program back on track. We are absolutely committed to improving shipbuilding productivity at the AWD shipbuilder, ASC, and its subcontractors BAE, Forgacs and Navantia. We have committed $78.2 million to bring forward preliminary engineering and design work needed to keep the option of building our future frigates in Australia open—potentially some eight-plus vessels—focusing around the CEA phased array radar and the SAAB 9LV command and control system from Adelaide. The design work will focus on continued production of the current air warfare destroyer hull. Demonstrating that the air warfare destroyer program is able to provide value for money will be the crucial test. That will be the test by which we have a decent productive industry.

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

I thank the minister for his answer. Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can he further advise the Senate what steps the previous government took to begin the process of replacing the Pacific patrol boats, which will reach their service end of life from 2018, and what action the coalition will now take to replace the ageing Pacific class boats, given their importance to our neighbours in the Pacific?

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I listened to the question. I am going to allow the question. I call the minister to answer the question.

David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What did the previous government do about Pacific class patrol boats? Nothing. We have put the money on the table to call for tenders for the production of more than 20 of those ships. But it gets worse. What did they do last year about Aurora Australis? They ran a tender closing on 9 May. Did they stipulate that that 8,000-tonne ship built by Carrington Slipways in the Hunter should be an Australian production? No, they did not. That tender closed, and they are allowing an 8,000-tonne icebreaker to be built in Europe. Under their watch, bleating and complaining about the valley of death, they allowed a ship that was built in Australia to now be built offshore. I just wish hypocrisy was worth something, because the Labor Party would turn us into millionaires.