Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering AUKUS across the country, including in my home state of South Australia? How does this compare to other approaches?

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

I acknowledge the member and her work in contributing to South Australia being at the heart of Australia's defence industry. AUKUS represents the biggest leap in Australia's military capability in more than a century, but it is also the largest industrial project in our country's history—20,000 jobs. Engaging the industrial base of the eastern seaboard, it already represents the biggest diversification in the Western Australian economy in decades, and it will see our future submarines built in South Australia at the Osborne Naval Shipyard.

In coming decades, $30 billion will be invested here. Just over a month ago, the Prime Minister and Premier Malinauskas announced a $3.9 billion downpayment on this. At its peak, the shipyard will be home to those sustaining the Collins class submarines, building our Hunter class frigates and building our future submarines, which in total represents more than 7,000 workers—the biggest industrial site in our country. We will see steel being cut on our future submarines by the end of the decade and, already, work is underway in constructing the submarine yard. This is a project which is being delivered, and we are really fortunate to have the Malinauskas state Labor government as our partner. They see that Osborne is central to the South Australian economy. Indeed, South Australia rightly and proudly declares itself the defence state.

So it's no surprise to me that, on Saturday, the South Australian people roundly endorsed the economic agenda of the Malinauskas government with its thumping re-election. I really want to congratulate the Premier and his entire team on their remarkable win. This stands in contrast to One Nation, who have really only ever been about stunts and the vibe; they have never been about the actual delivery of jobs and defence capability. It also stands in contrast to the coalition because, when they were last in government, they—

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

The minister was asked about how this compares to other approaches, and he is dealing with that, so it's going to be very difficult to take a point of order.

Opposition members interjecting—

Don't worry. I'm keeping an eye on these questions, trust me. The minister is being directly relevant because he was asked about comparing directly to other approaches. So of course he's going to talk about other parties and other approaches. He has the call.

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

The coalition declared that South Australians could not even build a canoe. Indeed, they tried to take the build of our future submarine offshore, and then they literally failed to deliver in the attack class program. That is very different to Labor because the Albanese and Malinauskas Labor governments, in partnership, are delivering the Osborne Naval Shipyard, which will be a cornerstone of the South Australian economy for decades to come. (Time expired)