The Hon Peter Dutton MP
Leader of the Opposition
Federal Member for Dickson
The Hon Andrew Hastie MP
Shadow Minister for Defence
Shadow Minister for Defence Industry
Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Shadow Attorney-General
Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC
Senator for Western Australia
Mr Mic Fels
Liberal Candidate for Swan
DOORSTOP, BELMONT, PERTH
23 April 2025
Subjects: The Coalition’s plan to keep our country safe through record investment into defence; Labor’s cost of living, energy and housing crisis; the Coalition’s plan for cost of living relief; getting Australia Back on Track.
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………
MIC FELS:
I’d like to welcome everybody here and to my electorate of Swan and especially our Leader, Peter Dutton. Manufacturing is a really critical industry in the Swan electorate and our defence investment, especially in WA, is really going to underpin the industry and obviously all the jobs in the Swan electorate.
So, thanks very much, Peter, for coming and I’ll hand over.
PETER DUTTON:
Mic, thank you very much.
Firstly, thank you to Blacktree here. It’s an incredible success story, a WA company employing people directly and indirectly in their hundreds and they are a company with a world-renowned reputation and they’re exporting product that’s manufactured here in WA to all parts of the globe. We saw a shipment on its way to Italy and trusted partners, including in NATO countries look to Australia for that defence relationship and we are a party that has always stood by the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and we do that in relation to the announcement that we’re making today.
Really pleased to be here with Andrew Hastie, our Shadow Minister for Defence and somebody who has served his country in uniform, in the SAS no less, and also to Linda Reynolds, who has also served our country in uniform and a former Defence Minister and great Senator here in WA, great to be here with Michaelia Cash, as well, and Mic Fels, who is our candidate and responsible, hopefully, after the election, for generating more jobs in his electorate of Swan.
What we announce today is a record investment into defence, which is going to be of particular benefit here in Western Australia, in South Australia, in other defence hubs around the country. Australia has an important role to play on the global stage and in our own region but, most importantly, a good Australian government will always invest into keeping us safe. We made an announcement, only a few days ago, of $750 million into keeping Australians safe in their homes and in their suburbs, in their towns and in their communities and, today, we make a very significant announcement of over $20 billion to Defence, over the course of the next five years, which will bring spending up to 2.5 per cent of GDP. It will be an important expenditure, because we need to keep our country safe and, if we’re to preserve peace and stability in our region, if we are to be a good ally with our partners, then Australia needs to invest in defence.
As Defence Minister, I was incredibly proud of the work that we did around AUKUS in particular, the money that we put into REDSPICE which helped defend us against cyber security attacks, attacks on our banking systems, on infrastructure, critical infrastructure like water and sewerage, and we need to make sure that whatever confronts us, over the course of the coming decades, we can stare down and that’s exactly what a Coalition government will do, because we always support and invest into defence and the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and, frankly, speaking to many companies, right across the country, at the moment, who are in the defence supply chain, building componentry and pieces that are being acquired by the Government, they’re completely and utterly disillusioned with this Government, so I’m pleased that we are able to make this significant announcement.
It says that, at this election, there is a choice for Australians to make. On the one hand, you’ve got a government that has ripped $80 billion out of defence. On the other, the Coalition is investing more into defence, a record amount of money, and we’re keeping our country safe doing so. At the next election, it’s a choice of 70 cents a day by way of tax cut in 15 months’ time or it’s 25 cents a litre immediately off your fuel bill and that means $14 a tank less, every time you fuel up. We’re giving $1,200 back to the average taxpayer so that you can cope with Labor’s cost-of-living crisis and we’re going to restore the dream of home ownership again. I want young Australians into homes. They’re locked out, at the moment, so we’re going to cut migration and we’re going to stop foreign buyers from owning Australian homes and competing against young Australians in a very tight housing market, so I believe that, at the next election and as we draw closer to polling day, Australians see that Labor’s attacks are built on a lie. In WA, the bulk billing rate under Labor, under Mr Albanese in the last three years, has dropped by 15 per cent and that’s why it’s costing more to see a doctor. That’s why it’s harder to see a doctor, under this Prime Minister, and we have a policy, a plan, to help people now, to address the real problems that Labor has built in, particularly to the energy market. We’re going to reinvest into defence and we’re going to restore the dream of home ownership.
I’ll ask Andrew to say a few words and then we’re happy to take some questions.
ANDREW HASTIE:
Thanks very much, Peter, and can I acknowledge Blacktree for having us today. It’s a great Australian business who does really important work serving our country through their products and their services and it’s great to be here today. Can I also welcome Peter Dutton to the great state of Western Australia. It’s great to have him here. It sends an important signal to Western Australia that we are an incredibly important state for our national security going forward and it’s great to have Tom and Rebecca Dutton here as well. They know how hard their dad’s working for our country and it’s good to have them here, as well, and could I also acknowledge Michaelia Cash our WA leader, who does great work for our state, and honour, as well, Linda Reynolds, who’s been a great servant of Western Australia but particularly for her work as the Minister for Defence and getting this state ready for AUKUS over the last few years.
The single most important task for the Australian Government is to keep the Australian people safe. It’s an incredibly important task and the Albanese Government is failing at it. The Prime Minister has stood up, multiple times over the last three years, and said that we are facing the most dangerous strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War and he’s right, of course. We’ve seen the rise of authoritarian powers. We’ve seen war in Ukraine. We’ve seen war in the Middle East, we’ve seen Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis create all sorts of strategic disorder which affects our important lines of trade and we are growing weaker under this Labor Government. In fact, under Labor, we’ve seen $80 billion worth of cuts, delays and reprioritisations to the Defence Force and we are now weaker, as a result. They’ve cut our infantry fighting vehicle programme, they’ve cut our two supply ships, they’ve cut the fourth squadron of F-35s. They are busy cutting and weakening this country.
That’s why today’s announcement is so important. We’re going to increase our defence spend to 2.5 per cent of GDP within five years and, out to 10 years, it’ll be at three per cent. Labor has revised its own figure of 2.4 per cent down to 2.3 in 10 years. They are making our country weaker, so that’s why we have a recruitment crisis. Last year, almost 90 per cent of all Defence applications were withdrawn. Young Australians can’t get into Defence because of the bungle that this Government is overseeing in recruiting. We have a retention crisis. We’re not keeping enough good people in uniform, people who have had a lot of experience over the last 15 years, and we have a readiness crisis. One of the things that always gets cut first under a Labor government is our sustainment budget, which means that we can’t get enough air hours for our pilots, we don’t have enough live ammunition for training our troops in the field and our Navy is going backwards, as well. We have had to decommission our frigates, because we just can’t man them, we’ve only got about five to six crews’ worth for our Anzac frigates and then, when it comes to Western Australia, Labor is asleep at the wheel, as well. We are going backwards on AUKUS. This is a multi-generational nation-building endeavour and they are failing.
You’d think that Labor would tell the economic dividend for AUKUS but they don’t even believe in that. This was a huge opportunity for Western Australia. It will secure our western seaboard with the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force West in 2027, when American and UK submarines will come alongside but it will also secure us economically as well, with the diversification it will bring to our economy, the opportunities for Western Australians, particularly in the education sector. We need to do a massive uplift in STEM, particularly, to make sure that we realise AUKUS. There’s supply chain opportunities for small businesses like Blacktree and others throughout Western Australia and then of course, our tradesmen. A lot of families in my neck of the woods do FIFO work and they do well out of it but it also puts a lot of pressure on local communities and families. This is a signal today, that we are going to invest in our industrial base here in Western Australia and so, if you’re a young tradesman and you’re looking for a job which doesn’t take you away from your family for 8 days out of every 14 well then we’re going to deliver that under AUKUS, with opportunities for working on our submarines or working on our ships once we get started at Henderson with our general purpose frigate build. So this is a big, big announcement and it sends a signal to the world, as well, that we are serious about defence.
We can’t take anything for granted anymore. If there’s a lesson out of Ukraine, it’s that you’ve got to be able to stand up on your own two feet, at least until your allies can come and support you and I think, with the election of President Trump, America is moving to a America-first posture. We still have a strong relationship with the United States but we can’t take anything for granted. The world has changed and under Peter Dutton and the Coalition we are taking the hard decisions to get Australia back on track but also to invest in the future so that we can secure ourselves, we can make things in this country again, and we will be stronger for it.
I’ll hand over to Michaelia now. Thank you.
MICHAELIA CASH:
Can I just say it is fantastic to have Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, yet again here in Western Australia. He is a great friend to Western Australia but also to have Andrew Hastie, our country’s future Defence Minister. Andrew leads by example. He knows firsthand, because he has served our country at the highest level, just how important this investment in defence is. We are going to invest, as Andrew said, $21 billion extra over five years. That is because both Peter Dutton and Andrew Hastie understand the most important fundamental responsibility of any Commonwealth government is the security of our nation and the security of our people. If you can’t keep our nation safe, like Mr Albanese, what else can’t you do? And that is the question the people of Australia need to be asking Mr Albanese. He needs to be asked why, over the last three years, he has taken $80 billion out of defence. He needs to be asked why a Chinese vessel literally did a lap of Australia and he had nothing to say about it other than almost, ‘she’ll be right’. He needs to pressed on why it was a pilot who was the one who actually notified Australian authorities about why there was a live fire exercise taking place and again, Mr Albanese, she’ll be right.
So, again, on behalf of Peter Dutton and Andrew Hastie to the Australian people, this is what a Coalition government stands for: the security of our nation and the security of its people and we stand here, today, part of keeping Australia safe is part of our plan, under a Peter Dutton government, to get Australia back on track.
PETER DUTTON:
Michaelia, thank you.
Now, given that we’re in WA, the home of Channel Seven, Riles, why don’t we start with you?
QUESTION:
Oh, very gracious of you. Ready to go. $21 billion is a lot of money. Mr Hastie said this morning that, when you make these sort of funding commitments, there are always trade-offs, so where will you make the savings? Where’s the money coming from?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Mark, during the course of COVID, we provided support with JobKeeper and JobSeeker and a number of other policies and businesses like this would have benefited from that. It kept hundreds of thousands of people employed but we didn’t bake in that spending in those programmes. They were there to address the issues of the time and the economic downturn of the time.
Now, Australia is going through an incredibly difficult period under Labor. We know that we have had the biggest drop in living standards compared to any other developed country in the world. There has been almost two years of negative household growth, so households have been in recession and what we’ve said is that we want to provide temporary assistance, by way of the 25 cent a litre tax cut for fuel, the $1,200 back to people, to help them deal with the here and now of Labor’s cost-of-living crisis, but we’re not baking that in year after year after year. What the Government’s done with their tax policy in 15 months’ time, they give 70 cents back per day. Now as you know, that costs about $17 billion dollars over the forward estimates, more than what we’re proposing in relation to this policy and in addition to that, there’s about a $7-billion-a-year recurrent built-in cost in what they’ve proposed for the 70 cents a day, so we have no commitments in relation to that recurrent spend and the reason in part, that we’ve left to a later point in the campaign, the announcement is to get a better understanding of where the finances are and how much money we can put into defence.
It is incredibly important that we recognise, and I agree with the Prime Minister, that we live in a very uncertain time. When I was Defence Minister and I’ve spoken publicly about this as has Richard Marles, one of the most jolting things that I’ve ever experienced in my life was the briefing from our intelligence agencies about just how precarious this period is so, over the course of the next term of parliament, we could see great uncertainty in our region, in Europe, in the Middle East; we could see a global recession. Now is not the time to risk Labor. We don’t need a Labor-Greens government in charge of defence and our economy at a time when we could be facing the most uncertain period in recent history and that’s why you’ll always get a more stable government, when it comes to the economy and national security under the Coalition and that why we’ve been responsible in the amount of money that we’ve committed which provides support to companies like this to grow and there’s enormous economic benefit in growing our economy by seeing these businesses grow, as well, and that’s what we’re committed to.
QUESTION:
Are you willing to name China as the reason for this spending boost?
PETER DUTTON:
Well China, as you know and as the Prime Minister has pointed out, as Penny Wong has said, as Kim Beazley has said and others, China under the CCP is a very different country and has ambitions in relation to Taiwan and a naval blockade in the region is not out of the thinking of the defence experts. Let’s be frank about it but it’s not just that, it’s the fact that, when you look at what’s happening in Europe, the prospect of Russia, emboldened, going into countries beyond Ukraine in Europe that has NATO countries deeply concerned, at the moment, and, as you know, in Germany and Italy and other countries, they’re ramping up their defence investment. In Australia, the Labor Party’s ripped $80 billion out of defence, at a time they tell us that we should be trying to bolster our defences, and you don’t achieve peace through weakness and the trouble, at the moment, is that we’ve got a weak Prime Minister, which is why we’ve had bad economic policy. It’s why we’ve got a very bad approach, frankly, at the moment, under Richard Marles, when it comes to defence, he’s more interested in playing golf courses around the world than getting a better understanding of what it is that we need to do as a country and he’s had no capacity at all, even though he’s taken proposals to Cabinet, to get them funded. He’s been rolled by Penny Wong and others and unfortunately, it’s our Diggers who miss out.
At the next election, Australians have the choice between two very different sides of this debate. If they elect a Coalition government, they’ll have Andrew Hastie, a former Digger, a member of the SAS no less as the Defence Minister of this country and that, I think, is exactly what our country needs in a time of great uncertainty.
QUESTION:
Senator Reynolds, you’ve been a critic of defence procurement and the culture within defence. I think you said you felt sick reading an ANAO report into procurement. What’s the point of throwing the $21 billion at Defence if they can’t even get their own act together on procurement?
PETER DUTTON:
I’ll just make a comment and then throw to Linda.
As you would have seen in the announcement today we put together a separate commission, so I accept the criticism and I think Linda’s spot on in terms of some of the comments that she’s made, that we want to make sure that money is being spent efficiently. When you speak to companies who are involved in defence contracts they’re pulling their hair out, because it takes too long, there are all sorts of bureaucratic processes in place and we want to make sure that we can bring industrialists in who have managed big projects and make sure that we get not just more money but a more efficient spend of that money, so that we can make every taxpayer dollar go further. So, that when we want to acquire drones, when we want to acquire guided weapon systems, when we wants to invest into our submarines, when we want to fund AUKUS, don’t forget the Government hasn’t contributed one dollar to AUKUS. Not one dollar additional has been put into the defence budget, which is why the morale is so bad, because Navy and Army and Air Force are all seeing their programmes cannibalised and that’s the reality of Labor.
So, I’ll hand over to Linda.
LINDA REYNOLDS:
Look, thanks, Peter, and it is a great question and this is one of the many reasons I am so supportive of the approach that Peter and Andrew are taking together on national security. It’s not just about buying the capability itself and making sure that is delivered in a timely way but we also need to have the plan, which we do and we always have had the plan to make sure that we have the trained people who could operate the equipment, we have the sustainment and the resources and we have the actual capability to deliver and part of that, as you have identified, is making sure that the Department of Defence itself is functional and is capable of delivering that capability and this Government, to their enduring shame, has not only taken away, as you’ve heard, the $80 billion away from defence in all of the enabling capabilities, they are eroding our defence at the time we need it, so it is not just about the capability in the platforms, it is ensuring this country has the capability to deter and also to defend ourselves and that is exactly what the Coalition government is again offering and will deliver if elected.
QUESTION:
One for Mr Hastie. Could I ask you, do you think women should serve in combat roles in the ADF?
ANDREW HASTIE:
Yeah. The Coalition policy is that all combat roles are open to women, it’s been our long-standing position, I’ve been in this role for almost five years. 18 months as the Assistant Minister for Defence, three years now as the Shadow Minister for Defence and our Coalition policy is that all combat roles are open to women. The one thing we will insist on is high standards, because in combat there’s no points for second place, so we need to be able to win every fight that we go into and that’s why we’ll uphold high standards. Thank you.
QUESTION:
Are you saying that women have lower standards? Is that what you’re saying?
ANDREW HASTIE:
It’s hardly what I’m saying. I’m saying we have one standard. All Australians, regardless of your background, your race, your sexuality, your gender, your religion, every single role in the ADF is open to you and we want more Australians to join. So I signalled this last week, to the Secretary of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force and so I’ve made it very clear about our policy going forward.
This is the thing about Richard Marles – talks a big game, talks about the most dangerous strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War and he uses women in the ADF as a political prop, as a political prop, and I think it’s a shameful, it’s a shameful scare campaign that he’s running on this and I stand by my record. Like I said yesterday on ABC Radio, I worked in the ADF for 12 years 8 months and I worked with women all the time. In fact, I did the first close-quarter battle integrated course with females at the end of 2011. Live fire, counter-terrorism drills, down at Swanbourne. I was taught surveillance and counter-surveillance by women, very, very good at what they do. I was an instructor on the first integrated SAS selection course, where we had females come through, so to take a lecture from Richard Marles, I mean it’s below the belt really, what he’s saying, and that’s what…
QUESTION:
Why did you say what you said?
ANDREW HASTIE:
Seven years ago, I mean…
QUESTION:
So, you’ve changed your personal view?
ANDREW HASTIE:
Well…
QUESTION:
I mean, you said it, right?
ANDREW HASTIE:
I did say it and I’m not going to disown who I was seven years ago. Again, personal experience. When I think about some of the things I had to do, in a close combat unit, up at Bindoon, not far from here, live fire drills where you practice a man down, very aerobically intensive, you need fine motor skills, you’re firing live rounds. I remember picking up an 85-kilo mate with my pack and webbing and my legs buckling. Now, I did that in training but I worked with men who did that under fire, in combat, for a fallen mate, so I’m not going to resile from what I’ve said in the past. You want honesty and you want integrity from politicians. I said what I said but the thing that the Australian people need to know. That under a Dutton-led Coalition government, we will have a policy that is open to all Australians for combat roles. Nothing is changing. This is Richard Marles playing politics with the ADF, playing politics with women in the ADF and using them as political props and it’s shameful.
QUESTION:
It sounds like, from that answer, that you still think women aren’t strong enough. Is that right? That woman aren’t strong enough to deal with that sort of combat you described. Is that…
ANDREW HASTIE:
Again, you’re not…
QUESTION:
Is that what you’re saying?
ANDREW HASTIE:
No, I didn’t say that at all. I said I got asked a question and I referred to my personal experience. Never once have I indicated that the policy should change and as I’ve said, judge me by my record for the last five years.
QUESTION:
So, do you not believe in your own policy, then, if that’s your personal belief and the Coalition policy’s something different?
ANDREW HASTIE:
Not at all. I’m standing right here, saying there’s one policy. I mean, this is kind of student politics stuff. I’m ready to be the Minister for Defence of this country and we have the most dangerous strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War. Peter takes that seriously, I take that seriously, Michaelia takes that serious, Linda takes that seriously, Mic takes it seriously and so we’re focussing on increasing our defence spend, we’re focussing on bringing lethal capabilities so we can deter our enemies, and you’re getting caught up on a comment from seven years ago, which doesn’t even have any bearing on the current policy setting so I’ve dealt with it, I’ve answered the question, we’re going to move on. Thank you.
QUESTION:
You have previously said that Australia should not contribute to the coalition of the willing, because there is no US security presence or blanket but, as you know, as a former Defence Minister, Australia has contributed to heaps of peacekeeping missions that have not involved a US presence. They include Israel, which is ongoing. Cyprus and Mozambique are two other examples, so why is it a deal breaker, for you, when it comes to Ukraine, if you are not siding with MAGA?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, one of my proudest moments as Defence Minister was to stand with the Ukrainian Ambassador at Amberley airbase and see off the first of the Bushmasters. We took a decision very early in government, that we were going to strongly support and back Ukraine and I think it’s something that all Australians should be proud of to be honest. We saved lives with the Bushmasters and with the capability that we were building at the time. I’m opposed to us sending in, in an ill-defined way, to an ill-defined mission, our troops on the border with a nuclear-powered country like Russia, with a lunatic in charge of Russia, not knowing what would happen next. The Prime Minister hadn’t thought about it, he hadn’t discussed it with the CDF, he hadn’t discussed it the Minister for Defence and, the next day, the Minister of Defence and the Assistant Minister for Defence walked it back. The Prime Minister hasn’t spoken of it since then. We support…
QUESTION:
He spoke it about it then…
PETER DUTTON:
No, he…
QUESTION:
And the question is about showing up. As your own Shadow Defence Minister said, the lesson of Ukraine is about being able to stand on your own two feet until your allies come to help. What kind of ally are we if we don’t come to help?
PETER DUTTON:
We provided more than any other country when we were in government. This Government pulled back and the reason that we’re not supplying at the levels that we did when the Coalition was in government was because this Government has required Defence to pay for what they contribute to Ukraine and…
QUESTION:
But I’m talking about a coalition of the willing…
PETER DUTTON:
No, but we’re talking about our contribution to Ukraine, about being a friend and being there, as you point out. I take it very seriously, because we are a great friend of Ukraine but I’m not going to put the lives of Australian soldiers at risk without understanding anything of what is being asked and the Prime Minister has nothing before him which indicates what it is that is being asked of our troops…
QUESTION:
It’s about being at the table while that’s being negotiated.
PETER DUTTON:
But for how long will our troops be required to stay in Europe? We’re told by the Prime Minister that we live in our region, in the Indo-Pacific in the most dangerous period since 1945 and he’s talking about sending hundreds or thousands of troops, I don’t know. He doesn’t know, into Europe, when we should be working with our allies in the Pacific and we should working on building our capabilities up. We have a record-low investment in defence under Labor and we’re talking about diverting what would be billions of dollars, from the defence budget, into sustaining our effort in Europe. Now, that is not the approach of a prudent prime minister who understands national security and…
QUESTION:
If you get some of those questions answered, would you, from Keir Starmer, say, would you be willing to change your mind?
PETER DUTTON:
I’ve dealt with that issue.
QUESTION:
I don’t think you have, respectfully. Would you be willing to change your mind, Mr Dutton?
PETER DUTTON:
I’ve stated our position.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, the vulnerability of WA’s North West Coast, there’s no manned but permanent bases up there. Under your government, will there be a permanent base to protect the vulnerability of the economically sensitive coast?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’ve said before that the north and the north-west of our country is both a vulnerability and an opportunity for us to project our force to the north and to the west if necessary, and investment across the top of Australia is absolutely essential and we did that, when we were in government, so this announcement today, which is a record announcement into Defence of $21 billion is not only going to get us to 2.5 per cent of GDP, it’s going allow us to invest into companies like this, it’s going to allow us to invest in our defences across the north, it’s going to allow us to invest in our counter-aerial surveillance capabilities, it is going to allow to invest into autonomous vehicles, both on land and underwater and it’s going to allow us to support and build the Australian Defence Force. Under Mr Albanese, no money additional in the budget, just confirmation that they are ripping $80 billion dollars out of defence and at this election, Australians know that, over the next few years, there could be a significant global event in Europe, in the Middle East, elsewhere; there could be conflict in our own region, we don’t know and that’s why…
QUESTION:
Given that, though, do they need to be permanent bases, in the north-west, rather than stand up…
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we can look at the advice from Defence at the time but I’ve been very strongly supportive of us increasing our fuel reserves and making sure that our capabilities are as strong as they can be in our northern and our north-western approaches. So we should work more closely with the United States and see what further investment can be made by the US in the Top End and they’re certainly of the view that that is an opportunity for them, they don’t want a Pearl Harbor in Guam, they want to make sure that their assets are spread and Australia is a natural ally and partner.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, on the defence spending announcement you’ve made today, precisely what capabilities are you going to spend that money on? Are we talking armed drones, integrated air and missile defence? Also, previously, you’ve said that you believe it’s inconceivable that Australia would not join the US and defend Taiwan if China invaded. Do you still stand by that?
PETER DUTTON:
So, a couple of points. I mean, firstly, in relation to where we are at the moment, we’re putting a record amount of money into defence which allows us the options that aren’t there at the moment and that’s why of the 30,000 businesses that have closed over the last three years under this Government, a number of them, too many of them, have been in the defence materiel sector and that’s just the reality of a Labor government. By taking money out, by cancelling contracts, by pushing everything out past the forward estimates to use their dodgy calculations, that has really had a huge blow on businesses here in WA and what we announce today is a massive investment into Western Australia. It’ll create jobs, it’ll create economic benefit for WA and the permanent, stable jobs that Andrew spoke of before.
Now, in relation to the United States, Kim Beazley’s pointed this out, as well, we have an enduring and incredibly important relationship with the United States. We have obligations, in relation to ANZUS and in relation to AUKUS, and it’s the policy of both governments to honour the principles of ANZUS and of AUKUS, so we ultimately look at what is in our country’s best interests and we’ll act in our country’s best interests to defend us, to keep us safe and to make sure that our neighbours stay safe, as well. You don’t do that in a position of weakness. Anthony Albanese is a weak leader and the Australian Defence Force knows it, our allies and our adversaries know it and what we’re demonstrating today is that we have the strength of leadership and that if there is a change of government at the next election, you won’t have Richard Marles touring the world’s golf courses on a VIP with his mates. You’ll have a former member of the SAS of our country, the most elite of our fighters in our country, as the Defence Minister and I think that should be a very clear message to Australians that this is another reason to vote out a bad government and to vote in a good Coalition government.
QUESTION:
Can you nominate any specific capabilities that this spending ultimately will deliver?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, drone capability, guided weapons, which we invested into, that this Government’s pulled money out of. Our munitions and our capability across most platforms, including frigates. All of that becomes a reality again. Our cyber defences, where Labor’s pulled money out. But we’re not announcing procurement contracts from opposition, which would be something we’re not able to do without that advice but they’re the capabilities that we need to invest in. That’s the advice I received as Defence Minister. They’re the investment decisions that we made. The fourth squadron of the F-35s, absolutely essential to make sure that we can keep our borders safe and we take defence very seriously.
QUESTION:
There’s a view inside, among some of your colleagues, Mr Dutton, that big policies like this and the mortgage deductibility plan should have been announced months earlier. 500,000 people voted yesterday, a lot of people have made their minds up. Why did you not announce this late last year, to actually get it to sink into the public’s mind? And, just on the spending, it’s huge spending going forward. Does this kill off your kind of aspiration you floated, last week, to index income tax?
PETER DUTTON:
No, it doesn’t and Coalition governments as the Howard Government and the Abbott Government and others demonstrated, you can manage the economy, you can invest into defence, you can provide the essential services. I mean, the fact is that bulk billing is down in WA by 15 per cent under Mr Albanese. Now, if you listen to his ads and his ‘Mediscare’ campaign, you’d think that bulk billing rates had gone up.
QUESTION:
That’s got nothing to do with…
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it does actually because there’s a huge expense involved in those essential services, so my point is that you can manage the economy well, you can invest into the essential services, including health and education and defence. Education doubled under us. The spending doubled in education. The spending doubled in relation to child care, for example, and other areas, under a Coalition government, but we were still able to invest at a record level in defence and that’s exactly what we should do.
Now, in terms of timing, I think it would have been imprudent for us to announce, early on, without knowing the bottom line and how much money was in the budget, to make that announcement then, and we have taken the more prudent approach. People can argue the politics of it but the more prudent approach was to see what the bottom line looked like, to make sure that we weren’t promising funny money. It’s a promise that we are committed to. We are absolutely serious about defence, as we demonstrated in government and Andrew Hastie as the Defence Minister, I think, will be the most well credentialled in recent history and he will make sure that we invest into defence where Labor has pulled money out and the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, I think, would be standing there applauding that.
QUESTION:
I haven’t heard you say where the money is coming from. Where are you getting the cash from?
PETER DUTTON:
So, we’re not – just to go into a bit more detail of what I provided before. The recurrent spend, as you’d understand, that means that you’re locking spending every year into the budget, we’re not going ahead with that 70 cent a day tax cut, which comes to about $7 billion a year ongoing. So, when we talk about $12 billion over the forward estimates, Labor’s locking in spending of $7 billion a year, which is $28 billion over the forward estimates and $17.4 billion just over this four-year period, so we well and truly deal with the expenditure side of it, and we’ve been very clear about that.
QUESTION:
Sorry, you said 12 billion and then said 21 billion?
PETER DUTTON:
Twenty-one over five.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, what you’re saying is that you’re paying for this policy by repealing the income tax cuts, so you’re paying for this policy through bracket creep and slugging ordinary taxpayers, rather than spending restraint and finding cuts elsewhere.
PETER DUTTON:
No, what…
QUESTION:
Doesn’t that undermine your aspiration for lower taxes over time?
PETER DUTTON:
A great Coalition government will always be better on national security and economic management and that’s exactly what’s on offer at this election. If you want to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, vote out this Government, for goodness’ sake. Electricity’s gone up by 32 per cent, gas is up by 34 per cent, food’s up by 30 per cent and it’s going to go higher. The one thing you can believe the Prime Minister on out of all the lies he’s told, the one thing he is telling the truth about is that, if he’s voted back in, all of those costs will go up higher. They’ll go up even…
QUESTION:
But you’re paying for this policy through a tax rise rather than a spending cut?
PETER DUTTON:
They’ll go up even higher. What we’re saying is that we want to help families who are struggling because of Labor’s cost-of-living crisis. We’re going to do that by a 25 cent a litre reduction in the excise tax that a family is paying or a small business or a pensioner is paying. That will be a savings of $14 a week per car. For a two-car family, $28 a week, much better than 70 cents a day in a tax cut in 15 months’ time. In addition to that, we commit to giving people $1,200 back of their own money through a tax rebate, much more generous than the 70 cents a day, and that’s the interim solution. That’s the short-term, immediate support we provide to families.
The next stage of our plan is to fix up this dreadful renewables only policy which has driven up the cost of everything and by bringing in place a gas reservation similar to what operates on the West Coast, we can bring down the cost of wholesale gas by 23 per cent, which means you’re paying less for electricity at home, it means that you’re playing less for electricity and gas to produce bricks and aluminium and steel for construction, and that’s how we can bring the costs across down.
QUESTION:
Your tax reliefs are temporary but this would be a permanent increase in income taxes that you’re suggesting to fund this.
PETER DUTTON:
We’ve addressed, in terms of what we can do to provide support now, which is the 25 cent a litre cut in the excise tax, so petrol comes down under us. You get more of your tax back, twelve hundred bucks and that helps you with the cost of living crisis that Labor’s created. We’re getting young people into housing and importantly, today, we’re talking about defence as a priority of a future Liberal government, whereas they’re ripping $80 billion off under Labor, so we’ll always be the party of keeping our country safe, of managing the economy effectively, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.
QUESTION:
Can I just ask one follow-up question? Are you doing this in response to Donald Trump suggesting that countries like Australia should increase their GDP, their share of GDP defence spend, to 3 per cent?
PETER DUTTON:
I mean, you’ll remember that Kim Beazley called for 3 per cent of GDP to be spent on defence.
QUESTION:
But Donald Trump has done that recently.
PETER DUTTON:
Look, this election is between Anthony Albanese and I. If you want to vote for a weak Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese ticks that box. He has near destroyed the economy over the last three years; he wasted $500 million on the Voice. He divided our country, he’s jacked up the cost of everything and Australians can’t afford three more years of a bad government. We, on the other hand, will manage the economy well. We’ll get the cost of living crisis contained and put downward pressure on prices and importantly, we will keep our country safe and that’s what we’re doing.
QUESTION:
Are you going to rely on higher taxes to fund 3 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade? Where is the money going to come from?
PETER DUTTON:
No, we’re not. Well, again, just back to the point about the recurrent spend that Labor’s building into the budget, that’s each and every year. We don’t have that spend.
QUESTION:
But 3 per cent is a lot of money over the decade. How will you fund that?
PETER DUTTON:
But, again, we’re not signing up to Labor’s recurrent spend and we’ll have more…
QUESTION:
It’s a tax cut. The recurrent spend is a tax cut.
PETER DUTTON:
No, what we’ll do is we’ll have more to say in relation to our costings before the election and Labor last time released it on the Thursday before, which I’m sure you were critical of, at the time. I don’t recall it but I’m sure you were, so we’ll deal with it before the election.
QUESTION:
I just had a question for yourself and Mr Hastie, potentially, on recruitment and retention. I was wondering if you could be a bit more specific about sort of what you had in mind to fix it. Is it possibly like a boost to the pay for Defence personnel or more contracts for the firms that handle recruitment?
PETER DUTTON:
It’s certainly pay and conditions but it’s also the sense of purpose and people want to work hard in Defence. They don’t want to work on projects that are going nowhere and Labor’s pulled money out of those projects. We want to put the money back in so that we can support those families, those Defence families, and keep people in the defence jobs for longer.
QUESTION:
And especially with recruitment, do you think that this is a problem that money can solve alone?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think the two are interrelated, is the point I’d make. So, I think it’s about purpose and a sense of purpose and being involved in work which is meaningful. At the moment, people have lost faith in this Government.
QUESTION:
On this announcement today, don’t voters have a right to know exactly what that $21 billion is going to buy?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, I don’t think there’s a government in our history that’s been elected outlining what contracts they’ll sign in relation to defence. We’ve spoken about the areas, the guided weapons etc, the capability acquisition, all of that is what we need to acquire. The decisions about who we purchase from is not something that we’d make from opposition.
QUESTION:
Just on national security more broadly, is it still your plan to introduce questions about anti-Semitism into the citizenship test? Would you re-vet the 2,000 odd people, who’ve come from Gaza, who you said didn’t have proper security checks? And would you move to recognise the capital of Israel as West Jerusalem?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, on the first two, yes. In relation to the last one, we don’t have any plans to change the current arrangements but I think what is interesting at the moment, is that you’ve got the Prime Minister who’s pretending again. and, if you believe this, you’ll believe anything, that he had no idea who this antisemitic candidate was that he’s now preferencing and I think the Prime Minister owes an explanation to the public about exactly why they’re preferencing antisemitic candidates. The Jewish community rightly is alarmed at what Labor’s doing. So that’s our policy. We’re not going to compromise on border security. We’ve been very clear about that. Our nation is the greatest in the world, we welcome migrants coming to our country; we have the most successful migration programme but we’re not going to compromise on those settings which provide screening of people who are coming in from a war zone.
QUESTION:
Those people from Gaza though were vetted, when they exited the Rafah Border Crossing, by Israel and then Home Affairs, as well, so do you not trust our security agencies or our allies?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll take advice but we’ll conduct proper security checks.
QUESTION:
I know you’ve already addressed this but just to be crystal clear, are you going to make any savings to pay for this announcement?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll find savings, as we’ve been clear, as John Howard did in ‘96, where Labor has invested into programmes where that money’s not being spent efficiently and we’ve given guarantees in relation to health and education and other areas of Commonwealth expenditure but the fact is that Labor always wastes money. This is the biggest spending government for 40 years. They spend money and that’s what drives up interest rates, so we need to make sure that we’ve got money being spent efficiently and that’s exactly what we do.
QUESTION:
The Coalition has been very critical of Labor’s offshore wind farms in the Hunter, in the Illawarra region, saying that they haven’t engaged properly with local communities. You’ve yet to visit any of the sites where you propose to put a nuclear reactor. Collie’s just two hours south of here. It’s the centrepiece of your energy policy. Why are you avoiding visiting those towns? Are you worried about backlash?
QUESTION:
Well, I’ve been to the Hunter, I’ve been to Bunbury, to both those communities. I’ve been to both of those communities and…
QUESTION:
On this election campaign, though?
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, and obviously people are concerned in those communities and that’s why we’ve made the decision that we have. There hasn’t been, the Hunter, for example, you cite, there’s been no consultation, no legitimate consultation, with the local residents and people have been very clear about that.
QUESTION:
Are you not doing the same, though, by avoiding those towns, as well, at the moment?
PETER DUTTON:
No, we’ve been there. In fact, I’ve been to the Hunter more than once and I think the view in Bunbury is very clear and we’ve acted upon that and it’s why Ben Small will be a great future member. Alright, thank you.
QUESTION:
So, you’re willing to sit down with people? Detractors…
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ve spoken with the community, we’ve made our decision and we’re happy to consult with people in government.
Alright, thank you very much.
ENDS
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