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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-21 Daily Xml
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AUKUS

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): A supplementary question to the Premier: given the Premier's earlier remarks regarding the single biggest defence procurement contract in the history of the Commonwealth of Australia, and celebrating that announcement, could the Premier please outline what boat is being built, when it's being built, who is building it, how many jobs will be associated with it and a ballpark estimated cost?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:15): It's an absolute delight—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to be able to answer a question. I think this is possibly the first question on defence that's been asked by the shadow defence minister in the last 3½ years. I thank him for that, and I note that he will be getting a briefing from Defence SA fairly soon. They have been very busy in recent times working on a range of projects that will bring thousands and thousands of jobs to South Australia. I don't know what he gets by way of briefings from his own team within the dream factory up on the second floor here, but there was a lot of information that was provided by our Prime Minister, the Hon. Scott Morrison, who is actually overseas at the moment talking through the details.

As the Leader of the Opposition will be more than aware, our historic trusted partners in so many areas have been the United States and the United Kingdom, and this new partnership—this new alliance which has been formed, the AUKUS alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States—will be working on a fleet of new nuclear-powered submarines for our country. The full details of that, the Prime Minister has already announced, will be worked out over the next 12 to 18 months, and I think this—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Here we go, sir, talking down probably the biggest contract in the history of South Australia. That's why they can never, ever be trusted—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —with the defence portfolio into the future. As we know, the US has a great fleet of nuclear-powered submarines—the Virginia class—and we have the UK with the Astute class. We will be drawing on the expertise which exists within those two great fleets and producing a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines for Australia. It's not going to happen overnight, and that's why we were so grateful that the Hobart class upgrade, which is a $3 billion-plus program, will be started in South Australia in 2024. So not long to wait for that great opportunity: get that Hobart class back out in the water, put the new systems onto those vessels. It is a great opportunity for people in South Australia.

We also know at the moment that the Hunter class is underway at the moment down at Osborne—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We hear these little quips from the Leader of the Opposition—

The SPEAKER: The Premier will not respond to interjection.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It would mean more if, when his party was in power—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: Yes, AWDs—

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —in government—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: —Future Submarines.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned for a second time.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —they might have actually delivered something. They didn't commission a single vessel.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader!

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: AWDs or the Future Submarines—

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: And the member for Lee talks about—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: —or building Techport?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —air warfare destroyers.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee will cease interjecting.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: He might like to check the record books as to when they were commissioned because we know that they were commissioned by a coalition government. Yes, he remembers banging a bottle of champagne on the side of the vessel—in fact, I think that occurred under a coalition government as well, by the way.

The reality is that the Coalition has done two very important things which every Australian should know. One is that they have increased defence spending back to more than 2 per cent of GDP. Under the hopeless years of Labor, defence spending had gone to a level we hadn't seen since before World War II. The second is that the Coalition have been able to identify the defence industry as a strategic defence capability for our nation.

They have invested in sovereign capability for Australia, and that's been great. South Australia has been the very happy beneficiary of those two important decisions.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before I call the member for West Torrens, I call to order the member for Chaffey, I call to order the Deputy Premier and I call to order the deputy leader. The member for Lee will leave for 10 minutes in accordance with standing order 137A.

The honourable member for Lee having withdrawn from the chamber:

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