Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this morning to commend a local company, Bruck Textiles, from Wangaratta in my electorate that has invested in its workers and in research and innovation to develop the wonderful camouflage fabric that our Australian soldiers wear and to highlight that the current Minister for Defence needs to make a commitment to local workers that he will not allow the purchase of camouflage fabric from China in future contracts.

We saw yesterday an embarrassing backdown. After there was an admission from an official in Defence and from the Labor candidate in my electorate that there would be fabric purchased from China, the minister backed down in a very embarrassing display. Had that issue not been raised in the media, I am sure that he would not have backed down. So at a time when we have the most successful textile mill in Australia working hard to innovate and keep jobs in Australia, we hear that a Chinese contractor has underbid the locals by about 10 per cent, saving, at best—and this is a disputed figure—$1.5 million. How pathetic.

On the same day that this government was going to export to China 400 jobs in Wangaratta and taxpayer funded know-how, we hear of the embarrassing debacle regarding the foil insulation program of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts that could take up to $50 million to remedy. Here the government is trying to gut Australian manufacturing and export Australian jobs for a measly $1½ million at best—and that is a disputed figure; some advice tells me it is not beyond $500,000—and yet its gross incompetence could see $50 million from Australian taxpayers required to fix the problem and it is still not accountable for it.

Why was this allowed to happen in Defence? Why has the minister not come clean and guaranteed that future camouflage will not be bought from China? Why will he not come clean and tell us of other Defence contracts in the pipeline that will put Australian jobs and Australian industries at risk? I will tell you why: because he is not on the ball. He has spent all his time on climate change covering up for the adequacies of his minister in the Senate, Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong, and the rest of his time having breakfast, lunch and dinner in Copenhagen. He is not on the ball, he does not know what is happening in Defence, but he will have to get to know what is happening in Defence very quickly because I will pursue these contracts. The minister will have to come clean over the next few weeks and months about what Australian jobs and industries he is putting at risk and what know-how and jobs he is exporting to China.