Ian Campbell (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

A question about the arrangements within the Defence portfolio is always an important one. What this government has sought to do over the past few years is to deal with the ludicrous situation that applied when Labor was in charge—for example, when Mr Beazley was defence minister you had a situation where only around 42 per cent of Australian troops were combat ready. One of the clear philosophies that the Howard government have sought to put in place is to ensure that we move troops to being combat ready—to have a defence force which is far more focused on doing its job. We have increased the combat ready personnel to 62 per cent. It is incredibly important that we continue to focus on that.

In relation to the specific issue of maintenance contracts, and ACT defence garrison support, the Serco Sodexho contractor referred to by Senator Lundy has been selected as the best value for money provider for the ACT and southern New South Wales region, with a contract potentially worth around $300 million over nine years. In line with the Howard government’s philosophy of ensuring that we see the money hit the ground to ensure that our defence troops are in fact combat ready and deliver the crucial defence role, what we are trying to ensure with this contract—and we know that Senator Lundy would prefer to have those cleaning services performed by members of her union; we know that she would prefer to have her union comrades in those jobs—is that we get good value for money and that we get the services provided. We are confident that that can be achieved.