Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers to questions, and in particular Senator Wong's question to Senator Reynolds. But, before I go to that matter, I'd just like to, in a sense, congratulate Senator Abetz on his contribution. But there was one great big glaring hole in all of that contribution. On the night that this happened, no-one rang the police. I will shake my head forever as to why a security guard, a ministerial adviser, a DPS staffer and Senator Reynolds never thought to ring the police about what was clearly a serious crime that had been committed in this parliament.

The business that I want to refer to at the moment is Senator Reynolds' nonanswer, once again falling on a track record of nonanswers, to the naval shipbuilding inquiry in the economics committee. She did it again today. When asked, 'Why have you not made a decision, which you said you'd make in 2019?' She referred to our term of government and her government's investment in shipbuilding, submarines and the like. Where is the difficulty with this minister coming to grips with a decision which she had foreshadowed? Why is there such an ongoing black cloud over South Australia as to where this is? Why are there 750 workers wondering whether or not they've got a job in an area where we should be looking at confirming their position, recruiting more boilermakers, recruiting more engineers and recruiting more shipbuilding workers? There appears to be a continual hiatus in that office, a continual procrastination, a continual lack of decision-making. If you were to look at the debacle that has played itself out in the parliament for the last week or so, there clearly doesn't appear to be any strong ministerial leadership or any strong capability within the office. It seems to meander along from one disaster to the next.

When we in the naval shipbuilding inquiry and the like try to seek information about what capability plans are available, what expenditure is happening, we get stonewalled. We literally get told 'commercial in confidence', 'can't see it', 'can't do it'. It's quite extraordinary. I well remember asking questions of David Johnston, the former Senator from Western Australia, who was the Minister for Defence, and he'd give you a response. You may not like the response. As a matter of fact, one famous day in this chamber he gave you a response that no-one would like. About South Australian workers, he said, 'I wouldn't trust ASC to build a canoe'. Shortly after that he changed his career direction and went on to bigger and better things than Minister for Defence. He was never short of expertise and intelligent answers, but this minister appears to be bereft of expertise in her office and refuses to answer almost everything. There is literally almost not a question which we can craft that this minister will not find a way of avoiding.

We on this side are not playing trumps here. Defence is not an overtly political area. Once decisions about where things are made, where things are produced or where money is spent are made, people like to just get on and examine progress. Dare I say this: a government will never fall in Australia because Defence has overspent; it's almost inclined to overspend on everything it does. It often has three or four projects of concern requiring the attention of the Treasurer, the finance minister and the defence minister to try and get them back on track. So we have a minister who just blatantly refuses to provide information to properly constituted committees of the Senate and then, in question time, won't provide answers she knows to questions.