Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion that brought by the member for Petrie, who is the shadow defence industry minister. As a proud former government, when we were in government we as a team agreed to $210 billion worth of defence industry expenditure over 10 years. It's really interesting because, during the lead-up to the last election, when those opposite were in opposition, they said there was not a cigarette paper's difference between the then opposition and the then government. We now know that that is not correct, because those opposite say one thing when they're in opposition and do the exact opposite once they get the reins of power.

Anybody who is anybody in the defence industry world would know that the DSR, the Defence strategic review, which was recently announced, had a very significant chilling effect on defence industry in this country. The shadow minister and I had the privilege of attending an AIDN—Australian Industry & Defence Network—dinner just a couple of weeks ago. The speeches that came out of that night, at a Queensland level and also, earlier, a national level, showed absolute desperation among defence industry contractors. They are staring down the barrel of having to lay workers off because of the chilling effect that the DSR has had on defence industry. Everybody has basically downed tools in the Australian defence industry because of this government's indecision.

When we were in government, we made 'sovereign capability' a catchcry. I didn't even know what it was until I came into parliament, but sovereign capability is incredibly important. I want to single out the efforts of people like Christopher Pyne, our previous defence industry minister, who really led the charge back then, and also the member for Durack and, of course, the current opposition leader. The coalition government has always believed in the importance of the protection of this country.

The DSR acknowledged that previous reports into Defence acknowledged that there is no longer a 10-year strategic lead time for a kinetic war that could potentially happen in the Pacific. It acknowledged that those were the findings of previous reports, and it accepted them. Notwithstanding that, do you think that this government put an additional cent into Defence? Not only did they not put an additional cent into Defence but they've cut a billion and a half dollars from the defence budget. That takes me back to my cigarette paper analogy. Those opposite, when we were in government, claimed that there would not be a cigarette paper's difference between them and us. Really they say one thing and they mean another.

It is incredibly important for this country, not only for jobs but for the protection and defence of this nation, that we continue down the route of sovereign capability. Of course, in this country we don't have the manufacturing base to be able to make fighter jets and things like that, but there are a lot of things that we can do in this country, and there are a lot of things that we can provide to the supply chain even of things like the F-35. Whilst we may not make fighter jets or helicopters, we're great at building ships. We need to have that emphasis on sovereign capability in this country because—may it please God that this never happens—if this country were ever blockaded or there were a kinetic war on, we could not rely upon our just-in-time supply chains, as COVID has taught us. We need to make stuff here. To make stuff here, we've got to have the intellectual ability and experience to actually manufacture right here in Australia things that we rely on in conflict.

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