Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question, acknowledging her great passion and interest in defence industry. I particularly want to congratulate her on her own local advanced manufacturing task force. It's a great local initiative.

The Morrison government is investing an historic $270 billion in our defence capability, creating new jobs and new opportunities right across the country, particularly in regional Australia. We see the Hunter region as the real heart of our national endeavour, as we start to build a strong sovereign defence industry. A good example of that is the fact that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from our region will now be sustained in Williamtown. I recently had the great pleasure to visit the BAE facility at Williamtown with the Prime Minister when they launched their Asia-Pacific regional sustainment hub. I don't know about the Prime Minister, but for me the great thrill that day was meeting some of the ex-Jetstar workers who had lost their jobs through no fault of their own. What a great thrill it was for them that they were able to secure work with BAE and were able to stay in the region that they love, where they and their family have grown up. I heard today that there are now 25 ex-Jetstar workers who have secured work with BAE. Well done to BAE and well done to those individuals who wanted to stay in that region with their families.

It is because of our investments in the F-35 program that we are creating more jobs and backing Aussie SMEs in the Hunter region, like Bale. Bale are providing the landing gear for the F-35 program, but they're also manufacturing the aircraft maintenance and also deployable support cabins for the F-35 program. Bale support hundreds of jobs in the Hunter region. Lockheed Martin Australia, who are the prime for the F-35 program, are supporting some 165 jobs in that local area. The F-35 program alone is supporting some $2.7 billion in contracts with over 50 Australian companies, so I think we can see how significant the F-35 program is to securing job opportunities, especially in the regions.

I'd like to recognise my colleague Senator Hollie Hughes from the other place, who has done an outstanding job in championing the defence industry in the Hunter region. Recently, Senator Hughes and I announced a government contract with Armor Composite Engineering. It's a contract worth $3.2 million to ACE. This will see them develop curved body armour and will give them more opportunities to export their product. We are getting on with the job of the defence of our nation, and we're providing more opportunities for regional Australians and regional businesses for our defence industry.