George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, Senator Ruston, I can and, in doing so, I want to acknowledge the advocacy of yourself, Senator Sean Edwards, Senator David Fawcett, Senator Simon Birmingham over there and Senator Cory Bernardi. Their advocacy on behalf of their state, South Australia, contributed to the government's decision announced by the Prime Minister last Tuesday—the most important announcement of Australian shipbuilding in Australian history.

The biggest difference, Senator Ruston—you should know—is that we now have a government in Australia that does have a shipbuilding plan. As Senator Michael Ronaldson pointed out—and it cannot be repeated often enough—for six years the Labor government let Australian naval shipbuilding die on the vine. For six years not one warship was commenced in Australia—delay, indecision and procrastination creating a valley of death which it falls to the Abbott government to repair.

What we announced last week was that, over the next two decades, Australia will invest over $89 billion to acquire and sustain new submarines, frigates and offshore patrol vessels and other specialised naval vessels. The centrepiece of the government's naval shipbuilding plan will be the implementation of a historic continuous build of service warships in Australia. That has never happened before, but, as a result of the historic decision announced by the Prime Minister last Tuesday, that will be the future of Australian shipbuilding and that will protect jobs for all time.