Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Their strategy was to have Australia walk onto the battlefield armed with press releases. But when it came to actually delivering capability, getting the hard power equation right, those opposite were the single worst defence procurement government in our nation's history, and not least because they themselves were a picture of chaos. In nine years we had six—really seven—different defence ministers, the last of whom is sitting right there as the Leader of the Opposition. And all of this was at a time when we were facing the most precarious strategic circumstances since the Second World War. Under those opposite, Australia's lost decade could not have come at a more damaging historic moment.

Under Labor it's going to be different. We are getting back to the basics, establishing an independent project management office within Defence. We understand defence projects are large, they are complex and they don't always go right, which is why it's so important that you have objective criteria and metrics before projects are put on the Projects of Interest / Projects of Concern list. When they are, we're going to make sure that there are monthly reports to ministers so that we can get those projects back on track. In other words, we are going to actively manage defence procurement, because we get that the Defence budget is going to increase, which is why it's so important that the quality of defence expenditure is excellent—so that we can deliver value for money to taxpayers and much better capabilities which keep Australians safe.

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