Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) | Hansard source

I hear, 'Shame.' That is so true, because it is shameful that they have this view. None of us like war. None of us like conflict. What is going on in the Middle East and in Ukraine at the moment is so desperate and so unnecessary, and so many innocent civilian lives in particular are being lost. But the price of peace is eternal vigilance. To ensure that we have a nation at the ready, we need to invest. We need to spend money. We need to make sure that, when our fellow like-minded nations, such as Ukraine, are in peril and in trouble, we are there for them. We spend a lot of time, money and effort on making sure that the peace deployments are what they need to be.

The Greens' plan, according to their own platform, states that this party will cancel defence contracts, cut defence spending and renegotiate the US alliance to secure a new relationship focused on making us a better global citizen. They will reduce military spending to 1.5 per cent of GDP and close all military bases that foreign militaries have set up in this country. So that would be goodbye to all the marines who land in the Top End at Darwin in the Northern Territory. It would be goodbye to all of that. It would be goodbye indeed to our US alliance. Rest assured, if ever there is a friend that we will need in times of crisis, it will be the United States of America. It doesn't matter whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House. We have a longstanding and close relationship with the United States of America. It's good for us and, rest assured, it's good for them, too.

But, if you get in a power-sharing arrangement with the Greens and those manic, desperate, anti-Australian politicians have any say in government policy, in defence spending or in defence full stop, we will be in trouble as a nation. Say goodbye to AUKUS. Say goodbye to Pine Gap. Indeed, say goodbye to all of that. Those will be the first things cut. I do hope that, whatever the result of the next election, the Greens will be nowhere near the Treasury benches. I'd rather see the Labor Party in majority government than the Labor Party sharing government with that mob—absolutely. I think that would be shared by most sane, sensible people across this nation. Those people in those inner-city electorates who even think of putting the Greens somewhere on their ballot paper other than last need to think again. What also really needs to happen is that Labor members ought think carefully about where their preferences go. In a federal election you need to number every box, but number those very carefully; give it very solid and serious consideration. That's going to be so important.

It's no secret that the Greens are opposed to AUKUS. I know that former prime minister Morrison was criticised for some of the things that he did, but I will defend him until my dying breath because I know the work and effort that he put in during COVID-19. I know that because I saw it; I was right beside him in all those meetings when we were told tens of thousands of Australian could, potentially, die within weeks if we didn't do something. I respect the leadership that he showed and the tremendous effort he went to to put the nation first. That's why the John Hopkins centre rated us second in the world for our COVID-19 response. We kept Australians alive, we kept the doors of business open and we kept Australians in work. That is the legacy of Scott Morrison.

I also know the work that he went to, behind the scenes, to forge a deal with the United States and with the United Kingdom on our defence initiatives—on the things that we have in common with those two great nations. Rest assured that AUKUS is such a good policy that it was adopted by those opposite when they got into power. If it weren't, they would have shelved it—trust me! But they knew that it was the right thing to do, they knew that it was the right investment and they knew that it was the right time and place to do it. That relationship with Washington and with London is so important for Canberra. It's so important because it's going to underpin our defence and our security in the future. National security and the protection of the Australian people is first and foremost the duty of every government, or it should be. It won't be if the Greens have anything to do with power-sharing arrangements after the next election or after any election any time in the future.

The Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2024 is legislation that is important. It's legislation that I know the shadow minister has foreshadowed amendments to, and I respect those amendments and I agree with those amendments, because this is too important to muck up. It's too important to get this wrong and too important to let any power-sharing arrangements tamper with or have any ill effect on our national security and defence.

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