Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Newcastle for her question. The Albanese government is united and working hard to deliver the capabilities our defence force needs to keep Australian safe. Importantly, we are accelerating delivery at the same time as growing Aussie jobs. This is in stark contrast to the Liberals and Nationals, who aren't listening, have no ideas and are focused on themselves. We've delivered naval strike missiles, Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles to the Navy years ahead of schedule, increasing their range tenfold. We are more than doubling the Navy's warship fleet and we've selected the Mogami class frigates months ahead of schedule, with the first frigate to be delivered in 2029. Our first frigate will be delivered five years ahead of the coalition's planned first new warship, and we'll have delivered four new warships when they had planned to deliver one.

We've committed to continuous naval shipbuilding in Adelaide and Perth, delivering tens of thousands of new jobs. In contrast, the Liberals closed two shipyards, slashing thousands of jobs and secretly cutting $20 billion from the defence budget. We're increasing the budget by $70 billion. That is what a responsible, united government does.

I'm asked about alternative approaches. We saw it on display by the last government and continued in the opposition leader's thought-bubble of a defence speech last week. It was a thought bubble so empty that the shadow minister for defence didn't even know about it. It was a speech that lauded Scott Morrison's commitment to producing guided weapons in this country. There's only one slight problem. Under the Morrison government, they produced zero missiles. The only thing they produced was media releases. I've got news for the opposition: you don't defend the nation with media releases or Top Gun music. In contrast, we're building two missile factories and we'll be producing missiles by the end of this year. That is what a united government does.

The other insight of the opposition leader was that we need to invest in drones and autonomous systems, and I couldn't agree more. That's why we've allocated over $10 billion to do that, and that's why we're repairing the damage her government did when they cancelled the country's only armed drone project. By contrast, we've built the Ghost Shark factory, growing hundreds of jobs in Sydney and delivering to the Navy. The truth is that we're getting on with the job of supporting the ADF by growing the defence industry workforce. Only one side of the parliament can be trusted with national security, and they're sitting right over here.

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