Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Since our first day in government, we have worked hard making Australia stronger in the world and safer at home. This is being manifested in the investment in our capability and in our development assistance, our diplomacy and our defence—what I call the three Ds, which work together as tools of statecraft. Australia does have an important role and responsibility to engage in our region and the wider world. We have a responsibility to collective deterrence and to ensuring we have the defence capabilities to protect the stability of the Indo-Pacific and the security and stability of our region, from which our prosperity as a trading nation flows.

I agree, and I think most of us in this parliament would agree—make no mistake here—that we are in a global strategic contest. It's currently underway. AUKUS is a trilateral exchange that is so important—it's actually critical—to that strategic contest, giving us the capabilities to engage in that contest. The work that we do with the United States and with the United Kingdom to enhance our defence capability makes us an even more capable security partner. We will be able to make a better contribution to collective deterrence so that both state actors and non-state actors—adversaries—are deterred from pursuing their objectives with force or violence. AUKUS not only symbolises but substantiates the strength, unity and joint commitment to securing the peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.

It is also, I think, a substantive joint commitment to democracy as a governance model—a model increasingly under threat in the contest that is underway against authoritarianism. As the National Defence Strategy reconfirms, we confront the most challenging strategic circumstances since World War II, and we do so at a time when Australia's economic connection with the world has never been greater. Because of that, we clearly need to support the ADF with a much greater capacity to project so we can defend our nation and contribute to regional security and stability.

Now, the AUKUS Pillar I investment in conventionally-armed nuclear-powered submarines is fundamental to this. It will ensure our ADF has a much greater capacity to project. Similarly, the fundamental purpose of Pillar II is to enhance our joint capabilities and our interoperability in what is also a massive scope. It spans technological, commercial and communication spheres. We're talking about undersea capability, quantum technologies, AI, autonomy, advanced cybercapabilities, hypersonic capabilities, electronic warfare and so on.

Our defence capability is about enhancing deterrence and avoiding conflict. The investment is to avoid going into conflict. I'm not sure how many in this place would know what percentage of GDP the defence spend was during World War II. Anyone? I'm looking for a heckler; I don't have one. You don't know. It was 38 per cent, because, in the midst of war and conflict, all of the nation's efforts and resources go into defending the nation. So an investment now in defence and defence capability and deterrence is an investment in avoiding conflict and war, because it deters others from seeking to change the strategic circumstances based on their use of force.

The more we strengthen and enhance our defence capability, the more we can build that global collective deterrence, which lessens the possibility of the factors that may lead to conflict, as I've said, but also, importantly, is a safeguard to what is beneficial to us and in our national interest, and that is the liberal rules based order—the set of rules of the road and international law which we and other countries abide by and which is beneficial to all of us as we trade with each other globally.

We're delivering AUKUS.

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