Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026
Mr GOSLING (Solomon) (18:11): Our government, the Albanese government, is committed to ensuring that our Defence Force has the capabilities, the people and the funding that it needs to keep Australians safe—including in northern Australia, where I'm proud to represent the people of Darwin and Palmerston. As we know, we face the most challenging strategic circumstances since World War II.
Our government has asked the hard questions about our strategic landscape through the Defence Strategic Review, which obviously recognised the importance of the north to Australia's defence and security, as it was in the Second World War and as it continues to be in our day and age. We have provided stability and continuity in the Defence portfolio. This is being implemented through the National Defence Strategy and the Integrated Investment Program, the IIP.
This approach has allowed us to continually assess our defence capability needs and to resource them. That is why we have increased defence funding to record levels and invested in northern Australia in particular. In this term, delivery is fundamental to what we must achieve, and we are laser focused on delivering the capabilities we need to keep Australians safe—including in northern Australia, where our government is investing billions of dollars in upgrading our northern bases to enhance our security.
The 2024 IIP allocated $14 billion to $18 billion over the next decade to bolster Australia's northern bases. We know that all of this will be needed. The government's investment plan will accelerate upgrades to RAAF Base Tindal, including airfield improvements to enable and enhance their refuelling operations by KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft.
I visited RAAF Base Tindal recently and spent some time with the commander, and this included looking at some protective bunkers that the US has built there. Upgrades are also occurring across key training areas, including at the Robertson Barracks in Darwin in my electorate, as well as at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville. In September, we announced that, for the first time, US military aircraft will be pre-positioned in Australia under the force posture agreement, the FPA, with up to four V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft being stored and maintained in South-East Queensland and then returning to Darwin for use during the 2026 MRF-D, or Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, rotation.
Future full-time basing of those aircraft in Darwin is, of course, possible, but will be dependent on appropriate infrastructure. Just last week, on 2 October, the Australian Army's new attack helicopters landed in Australia, with the delivery of the first two Apaches to RAAF Base Townsville. The Albanese government is also investing $700 million to provide infrastructure and facility upgrades at RAAF Base Townsville to support the introduction of the Apache fleet.
All these investments by our government improve the ADF's ability to operate from Australia's northern bases, and they are a very good start. They mean more opportunities for defence industry in northern Australia, which means more jobs in communities across the north. We're working with industry.
In every year of the Albanese government, defence industry has grown in terms of its financial contribution to the Australian economy and the numbers of workers engaged. Based on the latest ABS data, in the 2023-24 financial year defence industry's contribution to the economy grew by 12.4 per cent, and the number of defence industry jobs grew by 9.1 per cent.
Our government is providing a record number of defence contracts to Australian industry, with $55.4 billion worth of contracts awarded to the defence industry in the 2024-25 financial year, which is a 39.7 per cent increase on the previous financial year. We're working alongside industry to deliver leading-edge capabilities, including a $1.7 billion new fleet of Australian designed and built extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles—the Ghost Shark—for the Royal Australian Navy.
Anduril Australia will deliver, maintain and continue developing this world-leading capability. It really is an impressive capability. Another contract, with Leidos, announced in August, will deliver an ADF counterdrone small unmanned aircraft system capability, which is also an incredibly important capability for our defence.