Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025, legislation that the coalition supports not because it is perfect, not because it is sufficient but because it is necessary. It is necessary because the first operational test of AUKUS is fast approaching.

Submarine crews from the United States and the United Kingdom are set to begin rotating through HMAS Stirling from 2027, less than two years away. The preparation must begin now. Housing must be ready well before the first submarine arrives. Timelines are tight, and failure to deliver on this front will send all the wrong signals to our allies. Put simply, this is a test. If we can't adequately host their submariners, why would they have confidence we would be able manage our own?

This bill enables Defence Housing Australia to provide accommodation for those allied forces, our closest and most trusted partners as part of the Submarine Rotational Force—West. It is not a symbolic gesture; it is a foundational step in operationalising AUKUS. Without housing, we cannot host; without hosting, we cannot train; and without training, the AUKUS partnership falters at the very first hurdle and we can kiss goodbye a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a new nuclear defence maintenance industry in Western Australia.

Let's step back and be clear on why this all matters. AUKUS is not a slogan or a branding exercise; it is a hard-nosed strategic partnership designed to keep Australia safe in a rapidly deteriorating security environment. The government itself acknowledges we are facing the most complex and challenging strategic circumstances in 80 years—and they're right. But acknowledgement without action is not enough. The threats are real. The rapid expansion of China's People's Liberation Army, described by the Minister for Defence as the largest conventional military build-up since the Second World War, is reshaping our region. To add to that, this expansion has happened without any strategic reassurances from the Chinese government as to why this is occurring. The first duty of any Australian government must be to keep Australians safe and our nation secure. That duty intensifies in moments like this, particularly when the government itself concedes the situation is dire.

This bill, whilst small in scope, touches on a much larger question: are we serious about defending our country? That's where the government's record falls short. Yes, the bill enables Defence Housing Australia to support our allies. Yes, it expands eligibility for housing. And, yes, the coalition supports these changes because, quite frankly, they are necessary for the success of AUKUS. But let us not pretend this is some comprehensive plan, because it is not. There is no new funding in this bill, no increase in housing supply, no structural reform to meet the rise in demand and no funded pipeline to build the homes we need to support this commitment. The bill simply expands Defence Housing's remit but not its resources. This is a serious problem because defence policy is no longer about long-term hypotheticals; it is about immediate readiness and about being able to act, not just talk. Our government should be working to make us as strong as possible as fast as possible, but the blunt reality is that, under this Labor government, Australia's defence posture remains overcooked, underfunded and underdelivering.

The coalition has been clear: defence spending must rise. We took to the last election a commitment to increase defence investment to three per cent of GDP within a decade because we believe that's what it takes at a minimum to meet the demand. Increased funding means we will be able to afford to build and operate our own nuclear submarines while not skimping on other defence priorities. Lifting our defence spending to at least three per cent is not an arbitrary figure; it is consistent with what our allies expect from us. Just last month NATO nations committed to lifting core spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP with an additional 1.5 per cent directed to broader security investments by 2035. That's total of five per cent for national resilience. Meanwhile, here in Australia, we remain stuck at just two per cent of GDP under the Albanese government, with no clear pathway to increase the funding.

We cannot afford to drift while the rest of the world wakes up to the scale of the challenge. Make no mistake, the United States is watching us closely. The US is currently US$37 trillion in debt. It's not just our region where the US is being asked to do more. The outbreak of war in Ukraine has meant they are being asked to do more in Europe, and as the war in the Middle East remains, more resources are required in that region as well. The Trump administration has made asking allies to bear more of the burden of our collective defence a 'core focus'. The Trump administration has already called on Australia to lift our contribution. AUKUS is under review—we all know that. Our alliance credibility is being tested in real-time.

To make matters worse, the failure to lift Defence spending isn't the only counter-productive action from this government. It has been more than 260 days since President Trump won the US election and yet our prime minister has not secured a face-to-face meeting. With previous US leaders this may have been excusable but, as we all know, President Trump is unique. Personal relationships matter to President Trump and are key to securing positive results. Look no further than Labor UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has met with president Trump several times since his election, and he has secured tariff exemptions for the UK.

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