Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those who are unwilling to hold the sovereignty of this nation above all else and who would seek to use this platform to defund and hamstring our defence forces are unwelcome. This convention must be followed. If not, our prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will send a message to Australians and foreign adversaries that he not serious about defence.

This committee is essential today. Australia faces the greatest military threat to peace and security in generations. Already, Royal Australian Navy personnel have been injured by the forces of Xi Jinping's navy while in international waters. Our aircrews have been subjected to life-threatening manoeuvres by Chinese aircraft. Even our civilian aircrews have been put in danger by reckless CCP operations in our region. Under the Liberal Party, these provocations would be met with strength. We would deliver peace through strength. A Liberal government would deter these events. We would invest in and increase capability that would detect threats by air, land, sea and space assets that the Labor government has failed to procure.

This government must change its course. The strategic circumstances are too precarious to ignore the warnings. Grey-zone tactics are ramping up. These grey-zone tactics have ranged from illegal free-trade attacks to unprecedented cyber intrusions into our democratic institutions and, finally and most dangerously of all, to state sponsored terror last year. With the Liberal Party at the helm of Defence once more, Australians would be reassured that they will no longer fear waking up to yet another attack on our freedoms, which, under Labor, have all too often been met with fake smiles, hand-wringing and platitudes from our prime minister.

Australia's defence must be made more resilient, and we must stand on our own two feet. Allies help those who help themselves. That means building sovereign mass in missiles, drones, cyber, undersea systems and sustainment here in Australia. Manufacturing at all levels must be unlocked, and the red and green tape hampering our defence and critical sovereign manufacturing capabilities must be abolished. This new committee must strengthen defence capability and accountability, not weaken it through politicisation and the appointment of anti-defence MPs. This committee must recognise the importance of AUKUS to Australia's security. The AUKUS submarines are the most complex machines ever built by man. On this committee, the Liberal Party will see that that agreement and the respect and lethality of our brave men and women of the ADF are given the funding and direction they deserve.

This government must soon commit to the construction of a new submarine base on the east coast, and this committee will examine the decisions behind this serious endeavour. We need this scrutiny because the Labor government has been unwilling and unable to produce the location of this base. Labor's inertia on this critical project disrespects the needs of industry partners who are core to the AUKUS agreement and of the communities of my home state of New South Wales in having a say about their future. The people of Port Kembla, the likely location of this east coast base, deserve a government that is upfront, and the Australian manufacturing base needs support to deliver for our sailors. The Albanese government has delivered neither—no certainty to the people of Port Kembla and no support to our sailors.

A trusted, disciplined committee should build bipartisan consensus around our strategic interests and enhance the ability for Defence to interact with parliament. The committee should reduce risk aversion and support better outcomes not just to protect Australians but in how we ensure every dollar on defence is spent well, because good economic management is important to defence too.

With the Liberal Party in support of raising defence spending to three per cent of GDP to bring us in line with both the threat faced and our allies' commitments, only the Liberal Party is clear eyed and ready for the challenges in this 21st century. The Labor government has cut defence spending in real terms. Don't believe the spin. The budget papers clearly show this decline, but, when we ask the defence minister about it, all we get are smokescreens and subversion. The Minister for Defence is happy to point to ships that aren't built yet, to munitions yet to be acquired and to troop numbers that couldn't fill a bus. It does not change the fact that we are dangerously undermanned and underequipped. Service on this new committee must therefore come with advice and clear moral convictions to do the hard things that this government won't do. Australians want peace through strength. They want faster decisions, more local industry jobs and equipment that arrives on time to keep our people safe. That is what the Liberal Party will champion in this committee, and, with that commitment, I commend this bill to the Senate.