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

The Prime Minister is in Indonesia this week for the ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum. We are told he will be launching his South-East Asia strategy, designed to turbocharge our economic ties with South-East Asia and reduce our reliance on China. I wish him well. We need strong ties with our neighbours. It's good for us and for them. I also hope that he can encourage our Indo-Pacific neighbours to stand strong against increasing aggression from China.

I told the last government, over and over again, not to put all their eggs in the China basket. The Turnbull-Morrison government seriously took their eyes off the ball, and the Chinese started kicking goals. A friend of mine recently came back from the Solomon Islands. He informed me that wherever there is a building there is a big sign that says 'made by China'. Australians found out a month ago that hundreds of Chinese satellites were collecting intelligence on our latest war game exercise with the US. Since those war games started, hundreds of orbit satellites have been tracked at low altitudes, focusing on the activities of warships in our Sydney Harbour. China has hundreds of these military satellites. Guess how many we have, Australians? None. That's right: a big fat zero. None. That's where we're at. We won't get our nuclear subs for at least 20 years—that's on a good day. The retention and recruitment rates in our armed forces are the worst they have even been. If, God forbid, another war comes, we are woefully unprepared.

The world is in a frightening place. There is a land war in Ukraine. Our region, the Indo-Pacific, is especially dynamic. China is moving into areas it has never had control over. It is building islands in the South China Sea and being increasingly aggressive with Taiwan. It is claiming borders that never existed. China is basing these actions on so-called very old maps—maps that the international court has said never existed. On Monday 1 September, China released a new official map that lays claim to most of the South China Sea, as well as contested parts of India and Russia. China's longstanding claims in the South China Sea have developed into tense standoffs with Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

China and India fought a war over their border in 1962. The disputed boundary led to a three-year standoff between thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers. A clash three years ago in the region killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese. Since 1948, China has shifted from an agriculture based economy to a high-tech and highly industrialised economy. In the last 20-odd years China has pulled hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into the relative wealth of the middle class. It has done this in a world of rules-based order and peace, which Australia has defended for over 100 years. In a relatively peaceful world, China has done very, very well, and now China is challenging that order. That's right, Australians, they're challenging that world order.

The US has re-engaged with the Pacific, reopening embassies and finally putting their money where their mouth is. Japan is increasing its military spending, India is increasing its military spending and other smaller regional players are doing the same. The drums of war may not be beating, but I can assure you there is an increasing and real sense of when, rather than if, the drums will start.

Since World War II, Australia has relied heavily on our relationships with powerful friends. When Japan bombed Darwin in 1942, our Prime Minister, John Curtin, called Churchill asking that troopships headed for Europe be turned around and sent back to Australia. Churchill said 'no', but the Americans said 'yes'. These friendships have made us prosper and have kept us safe, and we've relied heavily on them. But these relationships have also made us extremely lazy with our national security. Rather than build our own military to a point where it can sustain itself, we have relied too heavily on the US and others.

Australia has the greatest soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen. They are probably some of the best in the world. They are dedicated, fit, strong Australians willing to fight for us all the way. But how can we rely on our friends to give us much-needed support, equipment and supplies if the sea lanes are cut? How can we rely on that?

Australia hasn't fought a big war since World War II. At that time we faced an adversary. Since then we have been underprepared, and we need to do something.