Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

This government has had 11 long years to get control of the defence budget and project management—and it has failed miserably. Minister Nelson is the latest in a long list of defence ministers in this government who have not been able to do the job. He has wrapped himself in the flag and been available for photo opportunities but, at the end of the day, he has been happy to ignore proper procurement guidelines and make fast and loose announcements regarding the defence of this country.

The bottom line in this issue is that it is indicative of the circumstances facing the Howard government in a range of areas. It has grown stale, it is out of energy, it is not sure what it is really doing, but it has a cheque book and it splays it around. The point with defence expenditure is that we have to make sure that it is the right expenditure. We have to make sure that it meets our strategic needs into the future and the capability we require for the defence of our country.

The Minister for Defence—a man whom I have a good deal of time for in many respects—is often known around the place as ‘Rain Man’. We saw once again today his capacity to spit out statistics on a whole range of aspects which, I might add, were more about the past than the future.

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