Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion relating to AUKUS and the future of Australia's submarine capability. Let me say at the outset that this side of the House will always support investment in Australia's defence capability, because the first duty of any government is to keep Australians safe and protect our way of life. But support for capability must be matched with strategy, leadership and seriousness of purpose.

AUKUS did not begin with this Labor government. It was conceived, negotiated and delivered by the former coalition government as one of the most significant defence partnerships in our history since the ANZUS Treaty in 1951. AUKUS is about deterrence, capability and ensuring Australia can operate with our partners in the UK and US in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific. As chair and deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and the defence subcommittee, I've seen firsthand the scale of the challenges that we face. The strategic environment that we are in is deteriorating and deteriorating rapidly. It's more uncertain, it's more contested and it's more dangerous than at any time since 1945. This motion speaks at length about infrastructure, jobs and training, and, yes, these things are very important, but defence policy is not an employment program. It's not a regional development strategy dressed up as national security. It is about keeping Australians safe in a dangerous world, and that is where this government continues to fall short.

I ask this question: where is the government's national security strategy? It's all well and good to have a defence strategy, but where is its national security strategy? Where is the framework tying together defence, intelligence, cybersecurity space, critical infrastructure and economic security? We've seen announcements, we've seen press releases and we've seen spin, but we have not seen a coherent plan. Without one, even the biggest investments risk being poorly directed, delayed or diluted.

Labor is very good at spending—we all know that—but spending isn't always delivering. We are seeing delays, uncertainty and serious questions around AUKUS timelines. Capability gaps are emerging. The government talks about submarines in the 2040s while the threat is real today. The government has even ordered the Auditor-General to stop producing its major projects review on Defence's biggest projects, which are collectively over 33 years delayed. That is the reality that Australians are facing today.

The workforce challenge is real. Building and sustaining nuclear-powered submarines will require tens of thousands of skilled Australians engineers, tradies, technicians and Defence personnel. We support investment in skills, but where is the pipeline? Where is the plan to attract, train and retain that workforce? This cannot be switched on overnight, and, while we build this workforce, the government continues to fail to recruit and retain members of the Australian Defence Force. This requires long-term planning and coordination with industry and education providers. AUKUS must be about building sovereign capability. That means backing Australian industry. It means ensuring small and medium businesses are not locked out. It means genuine partnership with the private sector, not just rhetoric, because our national security depends on our own industrial capability. That's sovereign capability.

We are living in a time of growing strategic competition in our region—an increasingly unstable period that demands a clear government led response. We're seeing militarisation, coercion and instability. AUKUS is critical, but it cannot stand alone. It must be part of a broader national security strategy built on stronger sovereign capability. Australians expect strong leadership on national security. They expect clarity and consistency and a government that understands the seriousness of the moment, not one that plays catch up after it's too late.

The coalition will always support measures that strengthen Australia's defence capability. We support AUKUS, we support our submarines and we support our ADF personnel.

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