Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government reforming the Defence estate? What has been the response to this, and how does this compare to other approaches?

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

Can I thank the member for his question, coming as he does from the great Defence state of South Australia. Last Wednesday the Albanese government announced the biggest reform to Australia's Defence estate in our nation's history. Faced with the prospect of spending $2 billion over the next 25 years on defence sites that we barely use now, the Defence estate will be completely focused on giving Defence what it needs to do its job in defending Australia. It has been far too long since Australian governments dealt with the Defence estate, and in this respect the Defence estate review pointed to a lack of political and organisational will in the past to meet these challenges.

Most definitely, during the nine years of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, those opposite did absolutely nothing about it. And, based on what they have said since we made the announcement last week, it is clear that, if they were the government today, they would still be asleep today. But what is most astounding is that, given this major Defence announcement over the last few days, we have heard barely anything from the shadow minister for defence—not a press conference, no analysis, not even a bark—because, when it comes to reforming Defence waste, when it comes to providing for Defence efficiency, when it comes to building defence capability, all of this is a long way from the shadow minister's thoughts. I think, lately, maybe—just maybe—the shadow minister has been a little distracted by matters which are a bit closer to hand, matters such as that seat right there.

When it comes to the Liberal Party, that is always the issue, because they are always about their own self-interest; they are never about the national interest. We see that defence is about the security of our nation, but those opposite see defence in terms of what security it can provide to the coalition. They're very big on defence rhetoric. Shamefully and infamously, they tried to use the Australian Defence Force to raise money for the Liberal Party. But, on this side of the House, we know the importance of defence policy. When it comes to defence policy, for those opposite, it is just not core business, and it is certainly not core business for that shadow minister.