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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-02-21 Daily Xml
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Defence Naval Shipbuilding

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:15): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier received any assurances from the federal government that they have allocated funding towards the construction of the replacement for the Hobart class air warfare destroyers? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: During a FIVEaa interview with David Penberthy and Will Goodings yesterday, Mr Goodings said:

So by your definition of what's real and what's not real then, this promise to build the replacement for the Hobart class isn't real; there's no money coming in?

The Premier responded:

What I'm saying it's no different to the commitments we have seen in the past until we start seeing the dollars on the table.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:16): That's right. The Leader of the Opposition is right to the extent that I think he is pointing out that dollars in the budget matters materially. What we saw yesterday is an announcement from the federal government to put the dollars into the budget to build the warships. I was at pains to make this point yesterday.

The opposition seem to be all over the place. They seem to suggest that dollars in the budget don't matter. Now they are demanding that it does.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Florey! Member for Morphett!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: They keep referring back to the press releases.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: They keep referring it back to press releases without dollars. Now, yesterday—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Nor can you. Yesterday, in the federal government's commitment what we actually saw was a dramatic increase to the extent that it isn't just billions of dollars extra in the commonwealth budget regarding surface shipbuilding but it is also actually so material, the size of the investment, that we start to see the percentage spend, in terms of the size of the defence budget relative to GDP, going up quite substantially, approaching 2.3 per cent to 2.4 per cent, which is a very different trajectory from the one that was left for us from the former federal government, which was stuck at 2.1 per cent.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: It is 2.1 per cent going up to 2.4 per cent. The leader of opposition business interjects referring to former governments. I think that there has been failure on both sides of politics at a federal level when it comes to continuous shipbuilding. I think there has been a former federal Labor government that didn't act as aggressively as they should have. No different—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —and they were in for six years, that's right, and no different to the 10 years that followed.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Morialta is warned.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: We know that for instance—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta is on three warnings.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —as has been reported recently that we currently have a situation where the Navy has one of the oldest fleets that we have ever seen in their history.

Mr Patterson interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morphett!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: If you look at where the decline started for our Navy's infrastructure, it goes right back. The last time we had a serious commitment, a serious funding commitment for surface shipbuilding in Australia, was back in the Howard government, following the Rann government's advocacy to get the AWDs built down at Techport.

So we had a Techport investment from the Rann government, the pursuit of the AWDs, that being awarded by the Howard government and ever since then we have seen failure upon failure of federal governments to actually commit the funds to build the surface ships that the Navy requires, which is why the Navy has been going backwards in terms of the size and also the age of its fleet. That now comes to an end—that now comes to an end. Now the dollars, over $50 billion, is being allocated to the surface ship program—$11 billion of new money—and we start to see the drumbeat of work at Osborne.

Again, I welcome the opposition's opposition. I welcome the shadow minister over there, grinning about whatever his latest thing is—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: —because the proof of the pudding is in the eating, isn't it, Mr Speaker? Down at Osborne, hundreds, thousands of workers are happy the workforce is doubling on the back of this announcement and this advancement, with ships to be built right here in Osborne, which is why industry is backing in the announcement, and we look forward to what progresses down at Osborne over the years ahead.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the member for Morphett, I observe that the member for Morialta is on three warnings, the member for Florey on one and the member for Morphett on one.

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