Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Why is the AUKUS announcement important for the Australian economy?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his question and also for the substantial amount of work he does on behalf of his defence community in South-East Queensland as well.

As the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister have said today, AUKUS is a game changer when it comes to our national security but also a game changer when it comes to our national economy. What was announced last week completely aligns with our broader economic plan because it will broaden and deepen our industrial base and it will deliver new jobs, new industries, new capabilities and new opportunities right around Australia. This will be a whole-of-nation effort and it will create whole-of-nation opportunities, including around 20,000 direct high-skilled, high-paid jobs, including technicians, engineers, scientists and project managers. It will deliver new expertise in science, engineering and cyber, and there will be critical investments right around Australia, including and especially in the great states of South Australia and Western Australia.

This is all part of our broader agenda to revitalise Australian manufacturing, including through the National Reconstruction Fund and all the other ways we are investing in advanced manufacturing in particular, because we believe manufacturing needs to have a bright future in this country and not just a proud history. These are exactly the kinds of jobs we want for our people—high-wage, high-skilled opportunities right around Australia.

Australians have already paid too hefty a price for a wasted decade of dysfunction and drift when it comes to not just defence procurement but also the economy and manufacturing and industry more broadly. So we need to get cracking on investing in the future of defence but also the future of our economy at the same time. Of the $9 billion we will invest in this program over the forwards, about $6 billion will be invested in Australian industry and the Australian workforce. This is a big investment, and we've been upfront with the Australian people about the substantial pressures on the budget. Defence is one of the five fastest-growing areas of spending in the budget, along with the NDIS, aged care, health care and the cost of servicing the Liberals' trillion dollars of debt as well. That's why it's important that we have offset over the forward estimates every cent of this new game-changing investment in our national security. This is a vital investment to keep Australia safe, to broaden our industrial base and to strengthen our economy at the same time. It shows that we will always do what's in the best interest of Australians, their economy and their national security.