Richard Marles
Corio · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“We've attended all the meetings of the state parties since 2022. There are three concerns that we have in relation to it, but we continue to observe it. We obviously support the underlying desire to have a world free of nuclear weapons.”
“At the Montebello Islands, off the coast of Western Australia; Emu plain, in South Australia; and, of course, Maralinga, we were a place of nuclear testing ourselves, and we know the impact that that has had in relation to our own First Nations peoples.”
“If you'll indulge me, Mr Speaker, I add my acknowledgement to my good friend Dato' Khaled bin Nordin, the Malaysian defence minister. It's great to see him in the House today. I thank the honourable member for her question.”
“You are right in saying that both of those events characterise a deep sense of feeling within the Pacific around the role and place of nuclear weapons, such that the Treaty of Rarotonga has characterised the Pacific by being a treaty which seeks to have the Pacific as a nuclear weapons free part of the world.”
“We are building very large industrial sites, like the Osborne Naval Shipyard and Henderson, where thousands of people are employed. But so much of Australia's defence industry now is small and medium businesses which have incredible capability that are supporting our Defence Force.”
“I thank the member for his question and acknowledge the incredible and proud way that he represents the beautiful suburbs of Tangney in this parliament. I got a bit of a taste of that last week when I went with the honourable member to visit a company in his electorate—Australian Safety Engineers, in Canning Vale.”
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“Graham demonstrated that mostly in his relationship with his family, Graham had a former wife, Cheryl, and children Mathew and Kate, but in the time I knew Graham it was in his raising of D'Arcy and his marriage to Amanda where I really saw this on display. Graham loved both of them so, so much. Graham had real difficulties with his health. He was a long-time sufferer from cancer, and in 2016 he had a very well publicised and very appalling decision to make. His pathway forward was to have radical surgery which involved the removal of much of his gastrointestinal tract, and it promised a future which would be one where there would be a very, very long recovery, much pain and a very different life that would be led afterwards. It was not an obvious choice to make, actually.”
“What it means is that, in the current generation of Labor politicians in this place, Graham's mark is very much amongst us on this very day, and I'm deeply grateful for it. When I take a step back from all of that, what strikes me is the generosity of it, because Graham was already a giant. He had every reason, having left here, to walk off into the sunset, not busy himself with the difficulties of this place and to simply enjoy life. But he loved the Labor Party. He cared about us. For those of us who were the beneficiaries of his wisdom, we very much felt that sense of care. And so, the Graham Richardson I knew is a person who was characterised as a man with a giant heart.”
“It was in his role in the media where I first met Graham personally. In fact, Graham in many ways reached out to me simply to offer his wisdom and his counsel if ever I needed it—and need it I did. I found myself speaking to Graham frequently. As all of us come across problems in this place which feel at times completely intractable, Graham was a source of advice, and, more often than not, he offered a way through. He was really clear about what needed to be done. He didn't pull any punches if that involved doing difficult things, but he was deeply encouraging in the ability for us to achieve it. It was a counsel and a wisdom and a friendship which mattered to me greatly. And of course I was not unique. There are so many others of us who have been a beneficiary of Graham's wisdom.”
“Later in life, as I came to be in this place and to walk these same corridors, it was clear that, for all of us, we are on a pursuit of understanding—understanding how the Labor Party works, understanding how power works, understanding how broader politics is pursued, understanding how Australia fundamentally runs. And it occurs to me that, when Graham Richardson left this place back in 1994, his understanding of all of that was as great as anyone who has ever lived. And it meant that, in his postparliamentary life, when Graham went into the media, he was incredibly successful. He knew what he was talking about and he had an ability to cut to the heart of an issue, to understand its essence and to be able to convey that to a much broader audience and to do so with humour.”
“But his performance of that role, with the likes of the former senator Robert Ray and others, underpinned the entirety of the Hawke-Keating government, the longest serving Labor government in our nation's history and the great peacetime government in the Australian story. It means that in addition to his own personal contributions as a minister, his name is rightly connected with the achievements of that government as a whole. As a person growing up and coming into young adulthood, the Hawke-Keating government was for me the definition of the very best of Labor. It defined for me what I hoped my life would be about. It was a government that was filled with heroes, and amongst them from where I sat at that age, I saw Graham Richardson as a giant.”
“There are those who are involved in the organisation of that power, and it is far and away the most difficult task which is undertaken in political life. Graham was a person who performed that role. Now, all of us in our journeys have known those who have sought this role for all the wrong reasons. So to have a person who comes to it with the right motives and the right interests makes their place all the more precious. Graham was empathetic, he cared about the Labor Party first and foremost, he was intelligent in the way in which he went about his business and, most of all, he was willing to do hard things and make difficult decisions—quite often to his own personal detriment.”
“That achievement alone is one which will last long after all of us have left and are forgotten. It is an achievement of the most enormous proportions. That Graham was so successful as a minister spoke to his intelligence, his passion, his drive but also to his fundamental ability to get things done in this place. Yet, of course, we all know that Graham Richardson was much bigger than all of that. Politics is about the exercise of power, and that exercise is a competitive business. Thankfully in our nation that competition is peaceful, but it is competition nonetheless, and it happens at every level between parties—within parties: competition to become preselected, competition to sit on the frontbench.”
“If the contribution that Graham Richardson made to public life was simply measured by what he achieved as a minister in the Hawke and Keating governments, then that alone would mean his legacy was one of titanic proportions. As the minister for social services, he sought to make life fairer for pensioners by increasing the earnings on their savings, by making their pharmaceutical medicines more accessible. As the minister for sport, he oversaw an inquiry into drugs in sport, which led to the establishment of the Australian Sports Drug Agency in 1990. And, of course, as the minister for the environment he put in place protections for the Kakadu National Park and saw the inscription of the Daintree Forest on the World Heritage List, which guaranteed its protection.”
“There are not many orders; there is one, and it is as relevant to us here in the Indo-Pacific as it is to those who are in Eastern Europe. Over the course of the last four years, the people of Ukraine have been absolutely inspirational, and the Albanese Labor government and the Australian people will stand by their side for as long as it takes.”
“In the meantime, in the last 48 hours, we have seen a deadly and despicable Russian attack on civilian apartments and infrastructure in Ukraine, and last night's meeting condemned that attack, but it is a reminder that, in the prosecution of this war right now, we must stay the course with Ukraine. In the coming weeks, the final tranche of the 49 Australian-gifted Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine. During the course of this year, more than 200 Australian personnel have been involved in the deployment of our E-7 Wedgetail and the training of the Ukrainian armed forces. Since the beginning of this conflict we have provided $1.5 billion of support to Ukraine, and I can announce that very shortly we will be announcing our next package of support for Ukraine. What is at stake here is the global rules based order.”
“Central to this are the security guarantees, which will deter future Russian aggression, which have been at the heart of much of the discussion of the coalition of the willing. From the very outset, our Prime Minister has made clear that, wherever this lands, Australia will play its part because the Albanese government's support for Ukraine has been steadfast and it has been consistent. Fundamental to that has been support for the coalition of the willing, which is about ensuring the long-term security of Ukraine. For us, this has been a matter of principle. It can never be about politics.”
“I thank the member for her question. Last night, on behalf of the Prime Minister, I attended a virtual meeting of the coalition of the willing in support of Ukraine, which is a group of 35 countries—largely NATO but including both New Zealand and Australia. Present were President Zelensky and US Secretary of State Rubio, both of whom briefed the meeting about the recent peace talks in Geneva over the course of the weekend. All of us want to see peace, and we are deeply grateful for the efforts of the Trump administration in seeking to bring about peace. This is obviously really difficult work. Any peace must respect the sovereignty of Ukraine. They are the innocent party and the victim of Russian aggression.”
“That's what serious defence policy looks like. It also could not be further from what we see from those opposite. The very next day, the Leader of the Opposition delivered a keynote speech on Defence. Amidst various utterances on Defence spending, there were no details about the platforms on which they would spend the Defence budget. There were no details about the kind of Defence Force the coalition would build. There were no details about their strategic intent. Indeed, the speech was reminiscent of the 'Defence policy vacuum', which was so eloquently described by the Liberal Party's own election review. Overshadowing all of—”
“I thank the member for her question. Last Wednesday, the Prime Minister and the Premier of Western Australia were at HMAS Stirling in Rockingham, which right now is hosting the USS Vermont , a US Navy Virginia class submarine which is undergoing the most extensive maintenance on an American nuclear powered submarine outside of America ever. This work is being undertaken by 120 Australian workers, and that too is unique in terms of non-Americans working on a US submarine. But, well before the Vermont reached Australia, it already had a distinctly Australian character because, of the 130-odd crew, 11 submariners and two officers—10 per cent of the crew—are Australians enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy. This is a powerful example, but it's just one example of the way in which, today, AUKUS is happening.”
“While those opposite have gone AWOL when it comes to defence, our government is delivering for our nation to keep Australians safe.”
“In each of the last two financial years, we have set records for the amount that has been spent on defence procurement, the vast bulk of which has been spent on Australian defence industry. Together, this represents the largest peacetime increase in Australia's defence spending in our history. It could not stand in more stark contrast to what we see from those opposite—not just when they were in government, but in opposition as well. When it comes to defence policy, they are lazy. They have gone on strike. Their shadow minister has been described as a terrible retail politician. These are not my views. These are the views of Peter Dutton, the former leader of the opposition who, until recently, sat in that seat for three years and, as such, on this topic, could rightly claim to be an expert witness.”
“It's no coincidence that our most recent decisions have been focused on our navy—the decision to pursue the Mogami class vessel by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as our future general-purpose frigate; the $1.7 billion that we are investing in Ghost Shark, a unique long-range underwater autonomous capability produced by Anduril Australia; and the $12 billion that we've committed to the Henderson defence precinct, which will be the home of continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia and the place where we will maintain our future submarines. This is our government doing what we say and fulfilling our promises. It is also part of a $70 billion increase in defence spending over the decade, spending which is also happening in the here and now.”
“I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her service. In Sydney this week is the Indo Pacific International Maritime Expo, Indo Pac 25. In conjunction with that is the chief of the Royal Australian Navy's sea power conference, at which there are 58 nations represented, including 35 chiefs of navy—everyone from the head of the Spanish Armada to the chief of the Chilean Navy and Admiral Koehler, the commander of the United States Pacific Fleet. Building our own sea power is a key part of the Albanese government's increasing Australia's defence capability.”
“That's why on 1 January, in just a couple of months, we will also be capping Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme scripts at just $25. That's great for people who use Jardiance. Jardiance is a drug that manages chronic kidney disease, and it helps stop the progression of the disease to more invasive, debilitating and for that matter expensive treatments, such as dialysis. Jardiance retails for hundreds of dollars, but in just a couple of months those who are using it will pay just $25 a script. That is literally life changing, as it is for the millions of Australians who are dependent on access to affordable medicines. There is a big difference in this chamber on health care. Whatever is going on over on that side, a core mission of our government is to provide accessible and affordable health care to every Australian.”
“This represents the biggest increase in Medicare spending since Medicare was created. We will restore to Medicare every dollar that the Liberals cut. The Liberals froze the Medicare rebate for six years, putting bulk-billing into freefall. We know that they wanted to abolish bulk-billing through the introduction of a GP tax. When the Leader of the Opposition was the minister for health she said that the price signal of that tax was vital. She's told us that people don't value things unless they pay for them. She's warned us against a culture of dependency. All of this says that deep in her heart the Leader of the Opposition believes that Australians should not be able to go to the doctor for free, and that is why the Liberals represent a serious risk to Medicare. Well, this government is about providing accessible health care.”
“I thank the member for his question and acknowledge his expertise in asking this question. In just under 34 hours, the Albanese Labor Government's Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program will begin. Over the next four years, we will see around 4,800 GP clinics converted to fully fledged bulk-billing practices. Now, in the member for Canning's electorate, there are already three practices which have indicated that they want to participate in the program, and in the Leader of the Opposition's electorate of Farrer, there are 13 practices which have expressed an interest, and that's before the program has even begun. That is good news for both of them, not least of the reasons being it means that the next time these two meet they will have a nice, easy, comfortable icebreaker in their conversation before they get on to more difficult topics.”
“I thank the member for her question on this important matter. As the member referred to, we commissioned Lynelle Briggs to undertake a report to cabinet which would look at what the appropriate standards were in terms of appointing people to public sector boards. Ms Briggs has undertaken that work. The matter is in front of the cabinet and it is there to be considered. The cabinet is working through the process of considering the report and we will respond to it. When we respond to it, we will release the report, as the Minister for the Public Service has repeatedly said. So we will release this report, but we will do so after the cabinet has appropriately considered it, given that this is a report to cabinet. That is the normal and appropriate way in which we go about this.”
“The downstream processing of the critical minerals and rare earths that we have, as a natural resource, underpins so many modern technologies today, and it is a really exciting prospect for a new sector in this country with huge employment opportunities and a massive potential to contribute to our national wealth. Australia was a founding member of APEC under the Hawke government back in 1989. We understood then that connecting ourselves to the economies of these nations was the best strategy to lock in long-term economic growth and prosperity for our nation. And today, 36 years later, our Prime Minister is pursuing that same mission at APEC with vigour for the benefit of all Australians.”
“And Korea is our fourth-largest trading partner globally, accounting for $67 billion in two-way trade. Now, together these seven countries represent fully one-quarter of Australia's exports. And given that one in four jobs today is based on trade, that means that these seven countries underpin about a million jobs in Australia. That is in the context of trade being an increasing part of Australia's national prosperity, and the APEC region accounting for three-quarters of that. And so all of this is why the Prime Minister is in Korea today. He is over there fighting for Australian jobs right here. And it is really important that, in doing so, we place ourselves at the forefront of technology and modernity, and that is why the critical minerals framework agreement that we signed with the United States last week was so important.”
“I thank the member for his question. Last night the Prime Minister met again with President Trump along with the leaders of Korea, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, on the eve of today's APEC leaders summit. America is our largest two-way investment partner. We have a comprehensive strategic partnership with Singapore, which we are renewing on its 10th anniversary, and our economic relationship has never been deeper. Thailand is our third-largest trading partner in South-East Asia. We have a rapidly growing relationship with Vietnam, accounting for $30 billion in two-way trade. We have in prospect the biggest defence industry export in our country's history, and that is with Canada. The Australian and New Zealand economies are the two most integrated in the world today.”
“Since we have come to government, half a million houses have been built. That includes 5,000 social and affordable houses. In the nine years that those opposite were in government, the number of social and affordable houses that they constructed was 313—313 in nine years. What we have done is the biggest investment in housing that we have seen from a federal government. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a critical part of that because we care about providing affordable housing in this country. What we have over on that side is enormous hypocrisy and a massive gap between what they say and what they do, but the Australian people absolutely saw through it.”
“I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. The first point to make is that, if the Liberals are so concerned about the Housing Australia Future Fund and its contribution to providing more houses in this country, then they should have supported the Housing Australia Future Fund much earlier than they did. The Housing Australia Future Fund is now making an important contribution to the building of houses in this country. Indeed, in the Leader of the Opposition's own electorate, there are 54 homes in Thurgoona which are currently part of the first tranche of the Housing Australia Future Fund's projects. In the member for Lindsay's electorate, there are 135 homes in Penrith which are being pursued. In the member for Moncrieff's electorate, 213 homes are being pursued.”
“What this will see is significant numbers of downstream processing jobs in this sector, which currently are not there in the Australian economy, and that will be an enormous advantage for the Australian— (Time expired)”
“In saying that, I would add that, when it comes to the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive, we did that in the face of the opposition of the coalition, who talked about that as 'billions for billionaires', completely failing to understand what this represented for Australian industry. It is difficult to do this on our own, and that is why the agreement that we signed with the United States last week, between the Prime Minister and the President, was so important. What this does is bring together the might of the US government, along with our own, in terms of being able to genuinely support these industries going forward. The benefit for the Australian people is manifest.”
“That's because of the particular items which use critical minerals and rare earths, which are simply fundamental to the modern economy. Now, what we have faced globally is that, whilst we have been engaging in the mining and extraction of critical minerals and rare earths, the processing of them—a sector which would involve significant employment and significant industrial development in this country—has proven much more difficult, given the structure of the global market. That's why we have put in place a number of measures, such as the Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive and the Critical Minerals Facility, to demonstrate that the Australian government is there supporting the critical minerals sector to engage in that kind of work. That represents a $28 billion investment in this sector by our government since 2022.”
“I thank the member for her question, and she is right in articulating that the landmark critical minerals framework agreement that was signed by the Prime Minister and the President last week is genuinely in Australia's national interest—is 'worthy', in the terms of the member—and will absolutely have a huge impact on the Australian industry and, through that, the Australian people. Critical minerals are one of the great opportunities that our nation has. We have one of the five largest resources of critical minerals and rare earths in the world. The opportunity not only to mine those critical minerals but to process them represents one of the great opportunities for our manufacturing and our industry this century.”
“That is now their prerogative, but those in the gallery should understand that what this represents is a historic departure for any major party of government in this country in terms of its support for the Australia-United States relationship. There have been some voices of maturity on the other side, but that definitely does not include the Leader of the Opposition. This is one of the clearest demonstrations that, right now, the Liberals are just broken. Australia deserves better. So, while those opposite are busy eating themselves, we will get on with the serious business of managing these critical relations which are central to our economic prosperity and which help keep Australia safe.”
“That is what he was doing last week when he met with President Trump, where the closeness and the trust in our relationship with America were so palpable. We have a deep economic relationship with the United States. America remains our largest two-way investment partner. Today, Australia has the lowest American tariff of any country in the world. That's why all of this should be above partisan politics. In turn, it is why, when Labor have been in opposition, we have always wanted the coalition government of the day to succeed. Historically, that's actually been the case for the coalition as well—until now, where it has been absolutely obvious that those opposite have been completely desperate for our government to fail in the management of our relationship with the United States.”
“I thank the member for his question. Today the Prime Minister is in Kuala Lumpur, attending the ASEAN leaders meeting and the East Asia Summit, and later in the week he will be in Korea attending APEC. East Asia and South-East Asia are very important to Australia's national security, but it is utterly evident that the Asia-Pacific region and South-East Asia, specifically, are completely central to Australia's modern economic story. What we see in terms of activity is that East Asia is the fastest growing area in the world. ASEAN, on its own, by 2040 will be the fourth-largest economy on the planet, and three-quarters of Australia's trade is derived from the APEC region. When our prime minister is over there, he is fighting for Australian jobs right here.”
“From speaking with the Prime Minister, I know that he very much enjoyed the time he spent with President Trump. There was a connection and a warm rapport, which was evident for all to see. That is a very good thing, because to have that kind of personal relationship at the very highest level is something that is very much in Australia's national interest.”
“To get things rolling, there is an immediate $200 million investment in the Alcoa-Sojitz gallium recovery project in Western Australia and a $100 million investment in the Arafura Nolans rare earths project in the Northern Territory. These are just two examples of the kind of sector we can build here in Australia, which is great for our industry and also so important for our national security. President Trump reaffirmed America's ongoing commitment to our AUKUS partnership, which matters to us and is very much in the strategic interests of the United States, and he acknowledged the government's investment in the Henderson Defence Precinct. Specifically, he committed to the provision of Virginia class submarines in the early 2030s.”
“I thank the member for her question. Last Monday the Prime Minister had a three-hour meeting with President Trump in the White House. The meeting was warm. It was engaging and it was constructive. The two leaders spoke about our longstanding and extensive defence relationship. They spoke about the increasing investments by Australian superannuation funds in the United States in the context of a much broader economic relationship between our two nations. And they signed a landmark critical minerals framework agreement which commits our two countries not only to extracting and mining critical minerals and rare earths but also to their downstream processing so that we are actually creating refined product in America and Australia. That is so important to giving choice and competition to the global market. This is an $8.5 billion agreement.”
“What I would say to the member now is that we have been working on this at a pace since the election, and we will be in a position to respond to that audit in the very near future. In the context of that response, I will be able to specifically reply to her correspondence in respect of that particular property. But making sure that the Defence estate is fit for purpose in terms of what Defence's needs are in 2025 is absolutely paramount, as is making sure that it gives us the full basis upon which we can engage in our strategic purpose. To be able to engage an impactful projection is fundamentally important, and I do thank those who worked on the Defence estate audit. I would also like to acknowledge the Assistant Minister for Defence, the member for Wills, who has been working on this since the election.”
“I thank the member for her question. The estate audit, as you rightly said, was presented to government at that time, and it is a very important piece of work which has looked at the state of fitness, if I can put it that way, of the Defence estate for what are Defence's needs in 2025, understanding that there are a number of properties within the Defence estate which really have their history in the Defence estate as being part of something in the past and not necessarily focused on the future. The really important piece of work which was undertaken, as I previously said, did have implications in terms of personnel and, to be frank, it required more work in terms of a government response than we initially anticipated. It was to that end that we took more time in developing the response, and I have previously spoken about that.”
“Today, our government's bid to host COP31 next year is an incredible opportunity to tell the story of the Pacific, and indeed all small island states around the globe, in a way which places it front and centre on the world stage. How different is that to what we saw from those opposite? When they were in government, the Pacific Islands Forum was a meeting where Australia had absolutely nothing to say, and the only time they spoke about this issue was when they made jokes at the expense of the Pacific. Meaningful action on climate change is central to our economic prosperity. To be clear, that is the core driver of our government's policies. But, at the same time, meaningful action on climate change is at the heart of Australia's standing within our region and within our world, and that in turn is fundamental to our nation's security.”
“But, with the effects of climate change—with rising sea levels which threaten to engulf their nations, with more frequent storm surges which are fouling their water lenses—suddenly the sea is a source of threat. It is hard to describe how viscerally this impacts the peoples of the Pacific, their national psyche and their very way of life. They are left to wonder whether their towns and villages will be livable, and governments are faced with decisions which, for us, would be unimaginable. So part of our responsibility is to help the Pacific tell its climate change story to the world. Back in 2011, I was honoured to be able to take the then secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to Kiribati, where we stood in a kitchen and literally watched the sea lap up against the front door.”
“I thank the member for her question. The entry point for Australia's engagement with the countries of the Pacific is by our nation's meaningful action on climate change through a credible pathway to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Three of the four coral atoll nations in the world are in the Pacific—Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. The fourth, the Maldives, is in another region of strategic importance to us—the north-east Indian Ocean. These countries occupy thin strips of land, and their people have an understandable, deep connection to the sea. The sea is their source of food and nourishment, their place of recreation and where they practise culture. In short, the sea has been their source of security.”
“This alliance will now further the process of the integration between our two defence forces, which will include the recruitment of Papua New Guineans directly into the ADF, the first step of which will see PNG permanent residents in Australia able to join our Defence Force from 1 January next year. This agreement has been negotiated in record time, underpinned by a shared and significant ambition. I really want to thank James Marape; the Deputy Prime Minister, John Rosso; and my counterpart, the defence minister, Billy Joseph; along with our prime minister; our Foreign minister; our minister for Pacific island affairs; and the countless officials in both Port Moresby and Canberra who have brought this treaty to fruition. The result is an alliance which will see both Papua New Guinea and Australia be fundamentally safer.”
“The Kokoda Track, during the Second World War, is deeply etched into our military history. It, along with the battles of Milne Bay, Gona, Buna and so many other places, saw more than 6½ thousand Australian personnel make the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of that territory. At each and every moment, Papua New Guineans stood shoulder to shoulder with Australian soldiers, emblematic of the relationship between our two peoples then and our two countries today. From PNG's point of view, this represents an unambiguous choice to see Australia as its natural security partner—a choice that we do not take for granted.”
“I thank the member for his question and acknowledge his service. Yesterday, our prime minister and James Marape, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, signed the Pukpuk treaty, article 4 of which contains a mutual defence obligation, giving it the character of an alliance, the first alliance into which our country has entered since 1 September 1951, when Australia signed the ANZUS treaty, 74 years ago. This means that PNG is now our third ally, along with the United States and with New Zealand. This is deeply historic, but it's also perfectly natural. It is unthinkable that any Australian government today or in the future would regard an attack on Papua New Guinea as somehow not engaging our national interest. Indeed, on the one occasion when this has occurred in our past, we were most definitely there.”
“In that time, it has facilitated more than $130 million of Australian defence industry exports to the US and the UK, $110 million of which has happened just since February. This is a transformation. Australian defence industry is growing and, with it, the nation's sovereign industrial capability. That stands in such stark contrast to the lost decade that we saw from those opposite. When the Liberals were sitting around in their smoking jackets and slippers—”
“And very soon we will have the Kongsberg facility at Williamtown, near Newcastle, building long-range missiles as a result of the more than $16 billion over the decade that we are investing in establishing a missile-manufacturing capability in this country. But, in addition to supplying the ADF, under the banner of AUKUS and through legislation that passed the US Congress at the end of 2023, the complementary legislation that passed our parliament at the beginning of 2024 and the reforms in the UK, barriers across our respective defence industries have been greatly reduced, and, in turn, what we've now seen is more than 470 businesses in Australia become licence exempt as they contribute to the defence supply chains of the United States and the United Kingdom.”
“I thank the member for her question. In the 2023-24 financial year, our government spent $16.6 billion on procurement for the Australian Defence Force—more than in any year of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. In fact, it was more than in any other year, full stop, because, at the time, this was the largest amount that had ever been spent on procuring for the Australian Defence Force. And then, last financial year, we spent even more: $18.2 billion. So, as a result, we have the Rheinmetall facility in Brisbane, employing hundreds of people, building the armoured reconnaissance vehicles for our Army and, in fact, the German army. We have the new Hanwha facility at Avalon in Geelong, which in time will support 1,800 jobs, building self-propelled howitzers and the infantry fighting vehicles for the Army.”
“The truth is that, the record in government on defence spending under those opposite was an absolute disgrace In the last three years and more, under our government, we have dramatically turned that situation around, and I would like to pay credit to the Minister for Defence Personnel. From our very first budget, we increased the Defence offering, focusing on housing, then focusing on family benefits, then focusing on improving wages in areas of skilled workforce shortage and then focusing on improving and increasing retention bonuses. All of that has meant that, today, the separation rate for the ADF has fallen to 7.7 per cent, below the long-term average. At the same time, we are now finding young Australians where they are—”
“I thank the member for her question. The simple facts are that, at the beginning of 2022, the Australian Defence Force was in numerical decline. Under the coalition, the annual separation rate at the ADF had grown to a whopping 11.2 per cent. At the same time recruitment was in the doldrums, and what that meant was that in the last two years of their government, the Defence Force shrunk by 1,400 personnel. Yet at the same time their government provided a fanciful and grandiose announcement of increasing the Defence workforce by more than 18,000 personnel, an announcement which came with a massive price tag and, unsurprisingly and correspondingly, a massive, allocated funding deficit. Because the most arid, deserted, friendless place for Defence spending was the Liberal Party Expenditure Review Committee.”