Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Greg Sheridan, in an excellent article this week or last week, outlined the real defence dangers to Australia. We have an alignment now of Russia, China and North Korea—a mad dog country; it can only be described that way—and Iran, which a very dangerous country indeed. There are nearly a hundred million people living there. If you put Russia, China, Iran and North Korea together and have a look at what is on the other side, the Ukraine has proved that the Europeans really have no force now whatsoever. They are irrelevant in a power equation. That leaves the United States by itself, and the insult to the Americans by the refusal of the current ALP government to provide a ship will be a day of shame that will live in the memory of this country for a very long time. Those of us who read our history books know that this country was two weeks away from being invaded, and they'd given the whole of Australia, except for a narrow coastal belt—it was never the Brisbane line; it was all of Australia outside of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne—to the enemy. As a generational resident of that area, it means a lot.

The current administration of the military in this country spent $40,000 million of taxpayers' money to buy 15 machine guns. That would be in keeping with a fellow, who every time there is a complaint made against a soldier who was at war—heaven only knows what pressures are upon them that they have committed some atrocity—immediately sells them to the wolves. He is a disgrace, an absolute disgrace. He does not have the confidence of any soldier in this country. I don't mean the upper brass, because half of them would be grovelling for promotions. Forty thousand million dollars was spent to buy 15 pieces of ordinance—15 machine-guns. It was spent on patrol boats with no ordinance capacity whatsoever outside of a machine gun, and it was spent on drones that carry no ordinance not only to not protect themselves but also to deliver no payload against an enemy. That's $40,000 million dollars gone. I have made the point in the parliament that my platoon of 32 men that I had responsibility for had 15 machine guns, and I can assure you it did not cost the taxpayers any more than about $20,000. We spent $40,000 million to get 15 machine-guns, and the bloke is still there. Peter Dutton can't scream about this. He extended the bloke's contract for two years. After criticising him, he then extended the contract for two years.

If you're going to defend the country you have a first line, and that is missiles. In our day and age, that is missiles, and we've got no missiles. Effectively, we have no missiles. If they break through that, you have an army. We haven't even got a division. In warfare, it's all about divisions. History books will only talk about divisions. We haven't got a division. We haven't got one division. So much for the Army. The artillery capacity—which it turns out Ukraine is all about artillery not missiles. Missiles are too expensive, so they have been throwing artillery shells at each other. And, of course, Russia has China, Iran and North Korea backing them, and Ukrainians have the Europeans. Well, what a joke that is; Europeans—not worth two bob!

If you had the line of missiles that we need, if you had millions of artillery shells and if you had every boy in this country given a rifle and trained how to use it—and that rifle will be in the school armoury and later on in the town armoury—there would be five million or six million rivals in this country. If you picked a fight with us, you would be looking at fighting five million or six million guerillas. If you read your history books, there is no doubt that you require 23 troops for every guerilla fighter. And whether it was Napoleon in Spain or the Americans in Vietnam or the Russians in Afghanistan, that's a pretty accurate figure, 23 to one. So, if you've got five million or six million potential guerillas, not even China is going to win that one. Not even China!

I come from a family that goes way back, and, of course, I'm dark and come from Cloncurry—as we say, a 'Murray from the Curry'. I identify very much with the First Australians, and I desperately wanted Tubba Tre on our coin instead of some little twerp from England. That's utterly irrelevant and demonstrates again that we are not grown-up as a country. If we've got a foreign person on our coin, and he's a monarch—either you believe all people are born free and equal or you don't. But you can't believe all people are free and equal when you've got a monarch on your coin. And you can't believe we're a grown-up country if we have a foreigner on our coin.

Now, I am saying: do you want Ralph Honner, the leader of the 39th Battalion, who, more than anyone else, saved this nation from invasion on Kokoda? The 39th Battalion: 750 men when they were relieved, but only 130 were able to stand up on a parade, which was better than my battalion. We only had 28 walk out unassisted; that's all that was left of the battalion I was in, in later years—the 49th Battalion.

I've got a family that lost one of our sons in the First World War, lost another son in the Second World War II. We had cousins fighting in Crete, Libya, Singapore, Milne Bay, the islands, Aitapeand Kokoda—everywhere.

I know people, particularly people like the Sikhs, come in, and after 10 minutes they are flag-waving Australians. They are proud to be Australians and they will stand up and fight for this country, let there be no doubt about it. We need more of those people in this country.

But we need missiles; we need armed drones. That's our first line of defence, and they will break through that but they'll take immense pain. If it is a proper defence perimeter, they will take a hell of a lot of pain breaking through it. And then there's the five million or six million guerrilla fighters waiting for them. They're not going to do it unless they're completely stupid and insane.

But at the present moment Greg Sheridan is right. If you look at Russia, China, those mad countries Iran and North Korea, who have absolutely no sense of responsibility, and if you have a look at Europe, which is just a pathetic joke, and the situation, as the saying goes, if you want peace, your security depends on being prepared. Being an ex-boy scout, I know you have to be prepared.

This country is anything but prepared, and it is a disgrace to the Liberal Party. I would be ashamed to have my name associated with that political party, and I'd even more ashamed to have my name associated with the Labor Party. And remember that people write history books. People write history books, and when they write those history books people will spit upon your memory—that you left this country in the state that it's in.

Quite apart from that, we have no exports. You have destroyed every single export that this country had. All we've got left is iron ore, coal and gas. You gave the gas away, so it's gone. We get 600 million, but the quote target is 29,000 million for the same amount of gas. So forget about the gas. It's gone. You gave it away. And you're going to close down coal, and that leaves you iron ore—one single source of income from overseas. What have you done to my country?

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I go to the next speaker, I'll just make an observation to the member for Kennedy. I may have misheard you, but, at one point during your contribution, you made a comment about a 'twerp', and it could have been taken to be a reference to the sovereign. It would assist the House if you could withdraw that comment.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm shocked and horrified that I would have made that reference! I'm sure you misheard that.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So is that withdrawn?

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kennedy for his cooperation.

Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday afternoon, I alongside many from this place joined together at the Australian War Memorial for a last post ceremony. First occurring 10 years ago, it serves a dual function both to mark the commencement of the new sitting year of our parliament and also for members and senators present to reflect on the price paid for the freedoms we enjoy as Australians and on those who fought for Australia and our democracy. Given our role as elected representatives within our democratic system, I feel that we must ensure that the duty and sacrifice of those who have defended and served our nation retain a place at the forefront of our minds.

I am proud to serve as the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Veterans, and I note my fellow co-chair on the other side of the room, the member for Menzies. It is a group that helps promote and connect many veteran groups and initiatives with members and senators from all parts of the country, from government through to opposition and the crossbench. This couples with the fact that, from within this place and out in my electorate of Spence, I represent roughly 6,000 veterans and Australian Defence Force personnel. This number puts Spence first amongst South Australian electorates and 16th out of all electorates nationwide.

Many of the currently serving ADF personnel in my electorate of Spence are stationed at RAAF Base Edinburgh, where I had the privilege of joining the Assistant Minister for Defence recently to send off around 90 ADF members from 7 RAR, who would soon travel to the UK to assist with the training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of Operation Kudu. I know that, back in November last year when the Deputy Prime Minister visited the base along with me, the efforts of 7 RAR were a particular point of pride. Their work as part of this operation is one of vital importance in maintaining our global rules based order and helping to equip Ukraine's armed forces with the training necessary to defend their homeland from Russia's illegal war of aggression.

RAAF Base Edinburgh is also home to personnel who engage in operations ranging from maritime surveillance and reconnaissance through to cyber operations with 462 Squadron. With such cutting-edge technology and vehicles being operated from the base, it is little wonder that DSTG has called Adelaide's northern suburbs 'home' since before the base was constructed, let alone officially opened. I am honoured to represent an electorate that so many Defence personnel can call 'home' along with their families. That's why many schools in Spence don't just teach students who are part of our Defence families; they play an active role in supporting their wellbeing. Many schools in Spence take great pride in this fact and are part of the Defence School Mentor Program. Through employing a defence school mentor and facilitating a number of programs and initiatives, these schools are better equipped to help students from defence families thrive with their ongoing education and transitioning into and out of their respective school communities and to help mitigate some of the challenges uniquely faced by children in defence families. I am pleased to say that, out of the 19 South Australian schools that are part of this program, 11 of them are in Spence. This includes schools such as Gawler & District College B—12 and Hewett Primary School, which I have had the pleasure of visiting to see some of the work they do in this space.

These efforts to support our kids go hand in hand with the Malinauskas Labor government in SA, who have taken steps to put systems in place to make it easier for parents to identify themselves as being current or former serving members of the ADF, meaning that schools can provide them with the supports they need upon enrolment. This is an initiative that was championed by organisations such as Lidia Hall's Resolute Ready and Hayley Boswell's Defence Kidz. These are two individuals dedicated to assisting defence personnel, veterans and their families. I've had the pleasure of hosting both of them at my electorate office and my office here over the past year.

I always have a lot of time for people who are dedicated to improving the lives of those out there who dedicate themselves to making life just that little bit easier for ADF members past and present. That is particularly why, from my earliest days as Labor's candidate for Spence, I began fighting for the establishment of a veterans wellness hub within the electorate. All the way back in March 2022 I stood alongside the member for Blair, the then shadow minister for veterans affairs, where we made the commitment to invest in the health and wellbeing of veterans residing in Spence and surrounding areas through the building of one of these hubs.

Since my election to this place, and the election of the Albanese Labor government, my resolve to make this a reality has only intensified. Throughout this time I've held several meetings with the veteran community in Spence and with a number of other stakeholders, to listen to their feedback about what a veteran and family wellbeing hub should be and how it can best serve the thousands of men and women who have served their country with distinction. This culminated in the Minister for Veterans' Affairs flying out to Spence on no less than three occasions as part of delivering on our promise. It is my longstanding hope that this hub will provide invaluable support to veterans and their families through a number of programs, ranging from support groups to assistance with transitioning to civilian life and civilian employment.

In Spence I'm glad to see that veterans are not alone in that journey dealing with difficulties of transitioning from active service to being a civilian. Spence is home to many businesses that pride themselves as veteran employers. Many of these businesses are owned and operated by veterans, and have a workforce composed mostly of veterans. Many of these companies operate within our defence industry or in areas adjacent to it. This further underscores the importance of the defence industry in Spence and in South Australia, an industry that makes a significant contribution to employment and economic activity in my electorate and state. It also makes a significant contribution towards building Australia's sovereign capabilities and contributes towards projects that help Australia to defend itself and its interests abroad.

The scaling up of Australia's defence industry in recent years has provided much needed economic activity and jobs, particularly in areas that suffered the impact of the closure of the automotive manufacturing industry. This is particularly true in Adelaide's north, being the former home of the General Motors Holden manufacturing plant. It's closure in 2017 saw many knock-on effects, with thousands of workers losing their jobs both at Holden and at companies that relied on Holden for a large portion of their business, such as components manufacturers. Well within the past decade, 2017 is far from being relegated to ancient history by any means. The thought of having a thriving manufacturing industry that we could all be proud of again seemed like a mere pipedream.

In the years that followed, the former Holden manufacturing plant was reborn into Lionsgate Business Park, in no small part due to the fantastic work that Paschal Sommers did to make Lionsgate a hub for industry growth in the north. Success stories such as this, especially ones that follow such a spiritual and economic loss of a company like Holden, are a large part of why I was delighted to have been able to show the Minister for Industry and Science through Lionsgate. With tenants such as Epicurean Food Group and Select Plastics, it proves that the north is not just open for business but also supports a diverse range of industries. This is also true of another tenant at Lionsgate, Levett Engineering, who is a proud part of the defence industry, not just at Lionsgate but also a proud member of the Edinburgh Industry Alliance.

Having defence industry on a GMH plant is not historically unusual by any means. Prior to being located in Elizabeth, the GMH plant in Woodville, along with many other plants across the state and the nation, was repurposed to produce guns, tanks and military aircraft parts during the Second World War. It is fitting to see defence manufacturing return to a former Holden plant.

Beyond Lionsgate, South Australia is home to a vibrant and growing defence industry, an industry that currently accounts for 3.8 per cent of gross state product. It accounts for roughly two per cent of all jobs and has hundreds of companies that form part of this sector, including seven out of the world's top 10 defence companies. It reminds me that quite often South Australia really does punch above its weight on a number of fronts. This is especially true of our defence industry.

Recently I had the chance to meet with around 80 of these companies as part of a showcase at the Indo-Pacific maritime expo in Sydney late last year, led by South Australia's deputy premier and defence industry minister, Susan Close. It was an event that saw the largest number of exhibitors from across Australia in its history. It was only appropriate that South Australia's best and brightest from our defence industry would fit right in amongst them. In my electorate of Spence, the growth of the defence industry is not just a matter of economic development; it's a matter of pride and identity. Our contributions in this sector are a testament to our community's resilience, innovation and commitment to the nation. And this was clearly on display at the expo.

The jobs of tomorrow are not just on the distant horizon. Through many long-term projects in our defence industry pipeline, we are poised to reap the benefits. The strategic importance of South Australia within our national defence landscape is clear. With defence infrastructure present within our state, along with universities and vocational education providers on the ground ready to train and develop a skilled workforce locally, the economic benefits of a thriving defence industry are pivotal in ensuring that South Australia continues to be known as Australia's defence state not just in the years to come but in the decades ahead. And, I must say, that is a title certainly worth defending.