ADJOURNMENT

Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (20:04): Just a few weeks ago I found, buried in Defence's corporate plan, a Defence net zero strategy. We live in a time of heightened geopolitical tensions in our region, and it is more important than ever that we maintain a critical focus on our defence capability. The Albanese government has demonstrated that it is willing to sacrifice economic output in its relentless pursuit of a net zero agenda.

But for the Albanese government to compromise Australia's national security in its relentless pursuit of net zero demonstrates a level of incompetence that must be addressed. Australia's defence should not in any way be compromised by a green agenda. The challenges that Australia's defence forces face are difficult enough without the burdensome impost of meeting a net zero target.

The Defence strategic review states that Australia faces an asymmetric and burgeoning threat. Australia has a critical gap in missile defence capability, and our air defence systems are inadequate to protect Australian bases and troops from missile threats and adversaries. In my maiden speech in July, I said Australia's political leadership must have an honest conversation with the Australian public about the deterioration of the strategic circumstances we face.

And I believe that this is part of that conversation, because any missile that is being designed or manufactured by our potential adversaries, any missile that has the capability to strike Australia, has not been designed or manufactured according to net zero principles. The Albanese government ignored its own review's call for urgent investment into missiles.

Yet at estimates Defence officials admitted that the department is allocating money to convert around 6,800 white-fleet vehicles to electric, which will be supported by charging points across 12 bases. The total contribution of these vehicles to Defence's emissions profile is just one per cent. When asked for the cost of these vehicles, or whether the department is meeting its targets, officials had to take it on notice.

Tens of millions of dollars, maybe hundreds of millions, is being spent by Defence on a very expensive box-ticking exercise imposed on them by the climate activists. At the same time, the Albanese government is failing to urgently invest in missile capability, leaving a key national security box unticked. As Ben Packham reported in the Australian last week: Defence is being ordered to delay projects, slash maintenance costs and cut workforce spending in a severe austerity drive … The chief of the Air Force, Stephen Chappell, has also initiated reviews of capability and sustainment costs as part of a service-wide push to mitigate overspending and address budget challenges.

The government has been complacent about funding Australia's defence forces, underestimating the security threats that loom large in our region. Yet the threats have been easy for all to see, with warships conducting live firing exercises near civilian flights, and our service personnel unlawfully targeted with lasers, flares and sonar. In the face of this intimidation, the Albanese government has failed to stand up for our nation.

Despite what you hear from the Labor government, we have budget cuts in the Defence Force at a time when it most needs investment. And priorities are at odds with strategy. All government agencies that are tasked with protecting Australia's national security should be 100 per cent focused on that task, without any secondary obligations to any green agenda.

Australia needs tanks, not Teslas. We need more fuel supplies, not charging stations. We need an energy policy that enhances the ADF's ability to defend our nation, not one that dilutes it at the eleventh hour.

Australia is facing real threats from potential adversaries that are not developing environmentally friendly weapons; they're developing effective ones. I call upon the Albanese government to reconsider its defence priorities. Get back to the basics, equip our troops and let Defence do its job of keeping Australians safe.