Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think this is a good motion. I have been disappointed by the politicisation of it by those opposite—a theme that I will return to in a minute.

The E7 Wedgetail is a great platform for the RAAF. I am really proud that it is based out of RAAF Williamtown in the member for Newcastle's seat—my neighbour's seat—with the mighty No. 2 Squadron. It is some of the best equipment in the world, and I have had the honour of visiting the squadron many times. In fact, in a previous role I had the privilege of visiting the Northrop Grumman radar factory in Baltimore, Maryland, where they were producing this world-beating radar. It is a great platform for the RAAF, but it has been delivered 6½ years too late because of the incompetence of coalition governments, who are great at signing cheques for the ADF but are hopeless at delivering the platforms that the ADF actually need on time and on budget.

This is a classic example of this. This contract was signed under Prime Minister John Howard. It was an incredibly detailed development project. It was a project that the ADF and the Defence Materiel Organisation freely admit challenged the laws of physics in terms of the capabilities specified in the contract. Ultimately, because of the incompetence of coalition governments, it was delivered 6½ years later than originally scheduled. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example. Of the top 30 acquisition projects by the ADF, 87 per cent of schedule slippage has been in projects approved under coalition governments. The total of deferred capabilities of 81 years. Let me repeat that. In projects approved by coalition governments, government mismanagement has led to deferred capability of 81 years. That is equipment that the ADF has desperately needed and that their government has failed to provide. The projects of concern are projects that have had acquisition problems and are posing challenges. They are behind time, over budget or they are not able to be delivered. Of the 10 projects on the projects of concern list, all 10 were approved by coalition governments. Let me repeat the point. There is a bit of a pattern here. They are happy to sign cheques, they are happy to grandstand, but they cannot deliver the projects because they do not understand defence procurement.

It was a Labor government that substantially reformed defence procurement through processes like the projects of concern process, empowering the Defence Materiel Organisation to work with contractors and the ADF to really get to the nub of these issues, work out what was wrong with the contract, what had broken down in the relationship between the contractor, the DMO and the end user, and really get to the heart of it. The Wedgetail project is a classic example of that. When we came to power in 2007, and I had the honour of working for the then parliamentary secretary for defence procurement, this project was in deep, deep trouble. We had had to cancel the Seasprite project because of failures of the last government. Wedgetail was in huge trouble. We had a contractor who was unable to deliver the project, saying that the things the Commonwealth was demanding were outside the laws of physics. They had subcontractors who were not able to deliver on their systems and were not able to talk to the contractor. We had the DMO's relationship with the contractor breaking down, we had the relationship between the RAAF, the contractor and the DMO in serious trouble. But through instituting the projects of concern process, through convening high-level, CEO-level discussions between the DMO, the contractors and the RAAF, we were able to get a breakthrough on the contract, we were able to get external experts, the Lincoln laboratories, in from the United States to look at the radar issues and find a way forward. We were able to resolve this issue so that this platform was eventually delivered to the RAAF, and we are now celebrating what a great capability it is.

It is only through this focus that we can deliver these extremely complex projects. No country does defence procurement perfectly. It is a very complex area because you want the best equipment for your armed services, but you need a government focused not just on signing cheques but on delivering capability, working with the defence industry, working with the ADF, working with the DMO, so that the materiel is delivered on time and on budget. This is why this motion and the debate have been so disappointing. Instead of celebrating what was achieved, instead of working out and honouring how we resolved it so we could learn from it, we saw nasty politicisation of this whole issue. But, ignoring that for a second, I am glad that the RAAF has finally got the Wedgetail. I am glad that it has achieved FIC. I am glad that it is doing sterling work in the Middle East, based out of RAAF Williamtown, and will do for decades to come. I commend the motion to the chamber.

Debate adjourned.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 12:43

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