David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

As I have said on a number of occasions, Mr President, the former Labor government cut the Defence budget so drastically that 119 projects were delayed, 43 projects were reduced and eight were cancelled altogether. Australian defence industry has shed more than 10 per cent of its workforce, as the work simply dried up because of these budget cuts and deferrals. The Defence Capability Plan that I inherited was never affordable. Industry was promised an updated defence capability plan two years ago but it never eventuated. Unlike the Abbott government, Labor did not even bother to publish a policy on defence leading up to the last election. Labor's legacy of mismanagement means Defence now faces a deficit of $12 billion on current plans over the next decade, with an additional $18 billion required to achieve Labor's hyped Force 2030 from the Defence white paper of 2009. The legacy we are dealing with—(Time expired)