Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her service since coming to office in 2022. The government has undertaken the Defence Strategic Review, which is the most comprehensive reassessment of our strategic posture in 35 years, and we are now building a Defence Force to meet that moment. We've taken the idea of AUKUS and given substance to it, providing for the biggest industrial project in our country's history. We inherited a shrinking Defence Force. We have now turned that around, and it is growing again, and we are undertaking the biggest reform to the Defence estate ever. All of this is being underpinned by the biggest peacetime increase in defence spending in our nation's history.

Now, in our system of government, it is important to understand alternatives, as the honourable member has asked. That really invites me to make a critique of the shadow minister's positions on defence. The issue here is that, when it comes to the shadow minister and defence, what we have is a completely blank page because he has said absolutely nothing. I mean, as the shadow Treasurer in the last parliament, he did say that defence spending should be confined to the fiscal envelope that the Liberals took to the 2022 election, which would mean that he is against the $70 billion worth of investment that our government has made in defence.

On the other hand, and to be fair, in the last couple of weeks he has visited, with the member for Flinders, HMAS Cerberus, after which he posted a video in which he said 'massive investments in recent years making a real difference', then:

Zoe tell us about it.

Helpfully, the member for Flinders chimes in with 'never been more recruits coming into the Navy than there is now'. In response to that, let me say: fantastic, great move—well done, Angus! I actually spoke to my social media team—

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