Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

The simple fact is that, as I said, the Liberal and National parties will keep investing in defence capability and will keep investing in Australia's defence industry. And, most importantly, we will make sure the men and women of Australia's Defence Force come home safely, because we're prepared to invest in safeguarding them, creating jobs in Australia and making sure our defence industry is strong.

But, because it's clearly beyond the shadow minister opposite, let me make it clear. Maybe you've got your smart phone in front of you. You might want to punch in www.minister.defence.gov.au, because you'll see there's a full list of responsibilities there. So, if it's far beyond you to know what it is, I suggest you have a look.

But, more importantly than that, what I'd say to the Australian Labor Party is that you need to take seriously the Australian defence industry and you need to invest in capability, because your track record is shameful. For six years, the Australian Labor Party did not commission a single new vessel for Australia. For six years you failed to invest in Australian jobs. For six years you failed to take seriously what we're doing in defence industry. We've corrected the record. We've made sure that we've got the defence industry back on track. We're creating jobs. We're investing $200 billion. And we are making sure that, under our watch, we won't go back to the lowly and miserly 1.38 per cent of GDP that existed under the Australian Labor Party. So you stand condemned for six years of inaction, and we stand proud beside the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.

Honourable members interjecting—

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