James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I start by commending the mover of the motion and also the contribution that was just made by my good friend the member for Moncrieff. The defence industry has been transformational, particularly for small businesses, since the coalition were elected in 2013. I think it's important to start by reflecting on how we've gotten to where we are right now, because the point the member made is quite right: under Labor, for six years, not a single capital ship was commissioned for the Royal Australian Navy. By contrast, since we've been in government, since 2013, we've made important decisions on the Attack class submarine, the Hunter class frigate and the offshore patrol vessels as well as the Pacific patrol vessels that we're producing for our friends throughout the South Pacific.

Those decisions have been transformational for so many small businesses across the country, particularly in my electorate of Sturt. I have a business called Supashock in the north of my electorate. They've always been in my electorate, but they've moved to new premises in the north of my electorate because they're expanding. They're participating in the Land 400 and Land 121 programs through the supply chain for the Rheinmetall vehicles that are now being constructed in Queensland. They're pursuing many other opportunities in defence, in those programs and other programs, at the moment. That's just one example of the many businesses in my electorate that are benefiting from these decisions.

In South Australia, of course, the naval shipbuilding decisions are the most significant. Later this year, we should see steel being cut on the first prototypes for the Hunter class frigate at Osborne South. The shipyard there is progressively being handed over to British Aerospace, who, of course, were selected to build the nine frigates. With the cutting of steel later this year, we'll then move into production of the first of the class next year, in 2021. That, of course, is on track. It was very exciting to have visited there recently, a few weeks ago, to see what's happening on site. British Aerospace are the selected company, but there are small businesses associated with building the shipyards—the small businesses that will be a part of the supply chain. All the various supports that BAE need on that project are mouth-watering for South Australian businesses. We're already seeing some contracts bear fruit for those businesses. They're hiring new people because they need to expand because of the opportunities that they're getting from that decision.

The submarine contract for the Attack class submarines is even more significant than the one for the Hunter class frigates. We're building 12 of the submarines in South Australia. The shipyard north of the frigate yards, also at Osborne, are pouring cement as we speak. We're going to start seeing those buildings coming up on the horizon of Adelaide. It's a great proof point for the opportunities that young South Australians are going to have in the future in the defence industry because of the decisions this government has made to ensure that we've got a sovereign defence industry capability in Australia.

That's shipbuilding, but decision have been made in all areas of defence industry. When it comes to land programs, I mentioned the Land 400 and Land 121 projects that are being commissioned in this country to produce and create a sovereign defence industry capability for generations of Australians into the future. This is important for our national security. It's also important for our industrial capability and the future of our economy. Defence is always going to involve decisions of extreme magnitude. Many, many billions of dollars around these programs are being spent. We want to spend that money in this country. We want to spend that money in a way that creates opportunities for Australian businesses and also in a way that creates jobs for young Australians.

That's one of the really important things for us to do. I certainly take the opportunity, whenever it's presented to me, to talk to young Australians about the opportunities that they will have in their future through the decisions we're making in the defence industry. That's the exciting career pathway that young Australians can look forward to, thanks to the decisions that we're making. There will be tens of thousands of new jobs created in the defence industry sector in years to come because of the important, strong decisions that we have made and will continue to make to resource the armed forces with the capability that they need and deserve and produce that capability in this country so that we're also creating an economic dividend from that expenditure. I commend the motion.

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