Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we just saw in question time with the question, and with this response, from a very new senator—and I will acknowledge that she gave a very thoughtful contribution yesterday in her first speech—is a clear misunderstanding of how a proper cabinet government that is disciplined undertakes the share of the work, distributed across all of those people for whom there are responsibilities. Both the defence minister and the Foreign minister attended Talisman Sabre. I'm glad that the new member has arrived and has had the experience of sharing some time with the ADF, but dripping with sanctimony about two or three days with the ADF is no argument of any substance at all.

The defence of the nation is a critical part of what this government does. There's overlap in all sorts of other areas with state governments, but defence is the responsibility of the federal government. It's so important that, of all the things that could be spoken about in the address-in-reply, we had the Governor-General put these words on the record:

There is no greater responsibility for government than keeping Australians safe and securing our nation's future.

We stand by that, we are committed to that and we seek, in these incredibly tumultuous times, bipartisanship on that. But there is no way that this undisciplined mob, who lost so spectacularly at the last election, are capable of rising to that challenge. The Australian people need a lot better than what's on offer from the opposition in terms of accountability of the government with regard to the defence of the nation and the very existence of our country.

The twee points that were made in what I thought was a terrible set of questions—and a disgraceful contribution then, frankly—belie the fact that, under the opposition, we had $42 billion worth of announcements for defence, with zero dollars allocated in the budget for it. When you're after a headline and you're seeking to be sanctimonious and superior, we get the kind of contribution we had today. When you're dedicated to delivering for the nation in a real and practical way, you do the investment and you make the announcement at the same time. You don't make an announcement and leave it hanging with no allocation. That is the record of those opposite. No wonder Senator Collins expects the Prime Minister to be in 15 places at once. Let's face it: she's used to having a prime minister who gives himself six portfolios. That's how they run the government. What a joke!

What I'm really concerned about is that what we saw in question time today is edging towards a shift away from the bipartisanship that is vital to this nation. The facts belie the image that was attempted to be re-created here today. The facts are that the Albanese government has increased defence funding to record levels. That includes acquiring new capabilities for our Australian Defence Force of whom we are all proud. We honour their service. We honour their sacrifice to this nation. And nearly every single one of us around this chamber has been out with the ADF, in the program that we're provided for, to go and experience it firsthand and see what's happening. We know there are challenges, and that's why the Albanese government not just announced but actually added $10.6 billion over the forward estimates to our defence budget and $57.6 billion over the decade.

Those opposite can try and make points about what happens in our day-to-day interactions with others and the responsibilities that we need to take on as a government, but the money that we're investing in defence is an indication of how committed we are to that primary job of protecting our nation—not $42 billion of announcements, but $56 billion of cold, hard Australian earned cash to make sure we are protected. It's not a game; it's not to be played with. What we saw today was an absolute disgrace. The Albanese government will continually assess our defence capabilities, and we will resource them—no headline-grabbing stunts and no pretence, but real hard work—in an orderly way, with hard dollars to back it in. (Time expired)