Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sometimes, politics beggars belief. That we have the Labor Party putting forward a motion like this, here today, is beyond absurd. As a kid, we had those absurd jokes that went round the playground, like: 'Broken pencils are pointless.' This whole debate is pointless.

I see that the member for Fremantle has exited the chamber, after putting forward this motion. It is worth having a look at the member for Fremantle's commitment to shipbuilding in her electorate and nationally. I did a bit of a search of her website and found one reference to shipbuilding, which was a minor reference in a speech on manufacturing, yet here today she is leading this motion on behalf of the Labor Party. It must be humiliating to the shadow defence minister, the assistant minister and the parliamentary secretary that she has led the debate on this, because they have some pride in their own integrity. They could not, after what Labor did in six years in government, put forward such a motion.

It is worth looking at that Labor-Party record, because it highlights the absurdity of what we have before us. We should take a moment to pause and reflect; we should ensure we never have an abysmal record like this again, on either side of government. Ultimately, while we can joke and laugh about it—and we should joke and laugh about this motion—the seriousness of the important topic of ensuring we can defend our nation should be something that both sides of government strive for at all times.

What happened under the previous Labor government? There were $16 billion cut from Defence. The share of GDP spent on Defence fell to 1.56 per cent, its lowest level since 1938. Yet the member for Fremantle lectured us about making sure we have the proper structures in place—the ships and naval fleet—to defend this nation and what she referred to as its 'complex ecosystems'.

This government is already making sure we have the proper structures in place for the Navy fleet to be able to defend this nation. We will do it systematically and with proper planning so that shipbuilders in this nation know that the government is fully committed to the task at hand and that every commitment we put forward will have a dollar amount to it—so they will not just be hollow, false and insecure promises, such as those we saw from the Labor Party.

I am sure fellow speakers on my side will go through the list. We had former Prime Minister Rudd making promises, before the last election, with no money attached. We saw the previous Prime Minister to Mr Rudd, Prime Minister Gillard, doing exactly the same thing when she was Prime Minister—making promises with no dollars to back them up. This is an absurd motion. The member for Fremantle has pretty much taken our policy—that we took to the last election, criticising the former Labor government—and presented it here today. It is absurd.

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