Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence Industry. Would he update the House on the government's national defence industry project that guarantees the future security of the nation and supports our economic prosperity, and would he compare that with any other approaches?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Menzies for his question. I can tell him and the House that the government is committed to a $200 billion build-up of our military capacity over the next 10 years. The largest build-up of our military capability in our peacetime history is being delivered by this government over the next 10 years. Unlike previous Labor governments, who didn't commit to one vessel being built in this country in six years, we are committed to spending as much of that money and as much of that build-up as possible in Australia, driving jobs and investment here in this country—and it's working. As the Treasurer said earlier, in the national accounts defence investment is up 26.3 per cent in the June quarter. So the government's policy of driving jobs and investment by using that enormous defence heft to drive jobs, investment and capability is working.

The Joint Strike Fighter is a very, very good example. It won't just give us the most lethal and potent and effective platform in the air in the world today; we're also using it in two ways to drive jobs and investment, as part of the global supply chain. We've already had over 30 businesses sharing in $800 million worth of value here in Australia, and that is growing to $2.5 billion by 2020-21. Businesses like Marand in Moorabbin, Quickstep in Bankstown, Chemring in Lara, Levett in Montmorency, Ferra engineering in Brisbane, BAE in Newcastle, TAE in Newcastle and Brisbane, GE Australia in Brisbane, RUAG in Adelaide and Melbourne, and Northrop Grumman in Newcastle are all sharing, as part of the global supply chain, in this enormous build-up of our defence industry capability in this country.

We have also won the right to be the Asia-Pacific hub for the maintenance and sustainment of the Joint Strike Fighters that are operating in our region—for frames; for engines; for warehousing, most recently; and for 64 out of the 65 components that have already been decided by the joint project office. So we're creating jobs, thousands of jobs, throughout this supply chain and investment across our economy—more good news in what is a burgeoning economy, in stark contrast to the cold, winter-like years of the Labor government in defence, where defence spending dropped to 1.56 per cent of GDP—the lowest since appeasement, the lowest since 1938. They should be ashamed of themselves for the way they left defence. This government, firstly the Abbott government and now the Turnbull government, is fixing it.