Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Reynolds. Can the minister update the Senate on how the government is building a more secure Australia and preserving our regionally superior Collins class submarine capability?

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

I thank Senator O'Sullivan for the question, and also for his support for our defence forces in Western Australia and for welcoming HMAS Arunta home—thank you.

Australian submarines remain one of the most important capabilities in our Defence Force. The Collins class submarines are only halfway through their life and they are now very, very capable. They're capable of shaping, capable of deterring and also capable of responding to Australia's complex and very rapidly changing strategic environment. To preserve our Collins class submarines, the Morrison government is very carefully considering the management of our entire submarine fleet over the next 50 years. We are ensuring that the Collins class continues to remain regionally superior and in service well into the 2030s. We will continue to ensure that they exceed international benchmarks, again, for decades to come. This is achieved through planned and technological upgrades done in both Western Australia and South Australia, implemented during full-cycle, mid-cycle and intermediate-cycle docking. With Australian industry, we will grow our submarine capability ahead of the Attack class submarines transition in the 2030s and out into the 2040s.

Good management of this fleet has not always been the case. Never forget, when we came into government in 2013 we inherited low submarine availability, and Navy often struggled to get a single boat operational out to sea. There was no plan to upgrade and extend the life of our Collins-class submarines, no decision had been made on the future submarine sustainment and there was no naval shipbuilding and sustainment plan. But this government has turned the shipbuilding and sustainment industry into a truly national sovereign capability.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a supplementary question?

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise the Senate of what shipbuilding benefits the coalition government has delivered to Western Australia since 2013?

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

Under this government's plan, naval shipbuilding has gone from zero to booming in seven years. We are committed to building 45 vessels at Henderson, worth around $16 billion. Already, about $3 billion in contracts have been signed with WA shipbuilders, a $1.5 billion transformation of defence infrastructure at Henderson and at HMAS Stirling is well underway and we are investing more than $300 million in new maritime tracking ranges off the coast of Perth. Hundreds—in fact, thousands—of new multigenerational jobs are being created across these programs throughout the supply chain in Western Australia. I can assure all Western Australians that all shipbuilding and sustainment decisions will be made for the right reasons at the right time in the national interest, and all Australians would expect nothing less.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator O'Sullivan, a final supplementary question?

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for that update—good news for Western Australia. Can the minister advise the Senate of what shipbuilding benefits the coalition government has delivered to South Australia since 2013?

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

Under this government's plan, the coalition government's commitment to shipbuilding in South Australia has once and for all ended Labor's valley of death. Our record investment is building 23 of the world's most advanced naval platforms at the new digital shipyards in Osborne. We have delivered the Hobart-class Destroyers and have laid the foundations for continuous shipbuilding in Australia for many, many generations to come. This astonishing achievement in just seven short years has created thousands of jobs, has created new business opportunities in South Australia and has helped reinvigorate Australia's industrial landscape. These are jobs that the great-grandchildren and the great-great-grandchildren of the workers in South Australia will be working in, in these industries in South Australia. The people of South Australia can have confidence that they are at the forefront of this government's plan to ensure that Australia has the maritime capability that we need. (Time expired)