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

I acknowledge the member and her work in contributing to South Australia being at the heart of Australia's defence industry. AUKUS represents the biggest leap in Australia's military capability in more than a century, but it is also the largest industrial project in our country's history—20,000 jobs. Engaging the industrial base of the eastern seaboard, it already represents the biggest diversification in the Western Australian economy in decades, and it will see our future submarines built in South Australia at the Osborne Naval Shipyard.

In coming decades, $30 billion will be invested here. Just over a month ago, the Prime Minister and Premier Malinauskas announced a $3.9 billion downpayment on this. At its peak, the shipyard will be home to those sustaining the Collins class submarines, building our Hunter class frigates and building our future submarines, which in total represents more than 7,000 workers—the biggest industrial site in our country. We will see steel being cut on our future submarines by the end of the decade and, already, work is underway in constructing the submarine yard. This is a project which is being delivered, and we are really fortunate to have the Malinauskas state Labor government as our partner. They see that Osborne is central to the South Australian economy. Indeed, South Australia rightly and proudly declares itself the defence state.

So it's no surprise to me that, on Saturday, the South Australian people roundly endorsed the economic agenda of the Malinauskas government with its thumping re-election. I really want to congratulate the Premier and his entire team on their remarkable win. This stands in contrast to One Nation, who have really only ever been about stunts and the vibe; they have never been about the actual delivery of jobs and defence capability. It also stands in contrast to the coalition because, when they were last in government, they—

See this speech in context