Warren Entsch (Leichhardt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. Will the minister update the House on defence spending in the 2017-18 budget? How will this budget assist the growth of the Australian defence industry and the supply chain to support and create jobs in my electorate of Leichhardt and for many other hardworking Australians?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Leichhardt for his question. The member for Leichhardt represents Cairns, as you would know, Mr Speaker, and he has done a terrific job advocating for Cairns in the defence space, in the defence industry, particularly in shipping and sustainment and maintenance of the patrol vessels. Next week, in fact, the Defence Roadshow comes to Cairns, being run by the defence department, to explain to businesses in Cairns how they can get more involved in the global supply chain of these large primes and companies that are setting up in Australia and how they can interact better with defence in order to create jobs, grow their businesses, improve their investments and take part in what is essentially a renaissance in defence industry in this country as a result of the Turnbull government's decisions in defence.

Before we came to power, Labor had reduced defence spending to 1.56 per cent of GDP—as I have said before, the lowest level since 1938, the years of appeasement. In this budget that the Treasurer handed down on Tuesday, defence funding as a share of GDP will hit two per cent in 2020—three years earlier than we promised at the 2013 election. They go very quiet while we actually start telling them the facts about their record versus our record. In 2013 we promised that it would be 2023. It will be 2020 when our share of spending on defence as a percentage of GDP will hit two per cent. In fact, it will exceed two per cent. In this year's budget it is laid out that we are increasing military capability, the largest increase in our peacetime history, by $200 billion over the course of the next decade.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

The member for Eden-Monaro likes to interject. He was part of a government that did not make one decision to build a ship in Australia in six years—not one—and we are building 54. He should be ashamed to be a member of the Labor Party, which reduced our defence spending so dramatically.

In the next 12 months we intend to reach a number of very important milestones. In the third quarter of this year we will choose the combat management system for our new future frigates. The preferred tenderer for the offshore patrol vessels will be announced in the next few months. That will be chosen, starting at Osborne and then moving to Henderson. The preferred design of the nine future frigates: a $35 billion program will be decided in the next 12 months, early next year. And we expect to make the decision about which company will build the iconic combat reconnaissance vehicles, known as the LAND 400 project. On all of these decisions we are ahead of schedule—creating jobs, encouraging investment and bringing businesses to Australia, like Marand in Victoria, benefiting through the Joint Strike Fighter program, and Taylor Bros in Tasmania. The list is endless, and it is just good news.

Mr Husic interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Chifley is warned.