Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government providing cost-of-living relief to Australian Defence Force members and public servants in the Department of Defence, and how is the government's approach to decision-making different?

Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Herbert is warned.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her service. There are real challenges around recruitment and retention in the Defence Force, which is why this government has been particularly focused on improving the defence offering. We have introduced $50,000 retention bonuses. We have overseen the biggest wage increase for the Defence Force in more than a decade. All of this is now being coordinated at a three-star level by Lieutenant General Natasha Fox, the new chief of personnel. But one of the most important steps that we can take is to deliver a tax cut of every member of the Australian Defence Force, which is what we are doing. The average tax cut across the ADF is more than $2,300, and, when you add that to the wage increase for the average member of the ADF, they are more than $5,000 better off. This is real and practical action which is making a difference. The separation rate is starting to fall and, while it's early days, we are beginning to see recruitment numbers turn around.

This action stands in stark contrast to the vaudeville show which was put on display by those opposite over more than a decade. In their final years, the ADF was losing members, when the Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Defence. His solution was hoopla. It was to put on a show—a big announcement about increasing the Defence Force by 18½ thousand people, a commitment which was hopelessly underfunded. It was total fantasy, make-believe money, because they were always about the politics; they were never about the policy. They talked a big game about being the party of defence but their real interest in defence was raising political funds for their party.

Recently, we've seen them wandering around saying that, if they were ever asked, they would send ships to the Red Sea, but what has now been revealed is that when they were asked they said no. And the defence of the Leader of the Opposition, when he was the minister, is that he didn't even know a request had been made, which is absolutely astonishing. But, then again, he was always the 'Minister for Defence Politics', so we probably shouldn't be surprised that defence policy never made it onto his radar.

The government which is delivering real tax benefits, which has delivered a budget surplus and which is keeping our nation safe is the Albanese Labor government.