QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr MARLES (Corio—Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence) (14:31): I thank the member for his question and acknowledge his contribution to seeing Western Australia become one of Australia's great Defence states. Two weeks ago, along with the Prime Minister and the Premier of Western Australia, we, the government, announced the precise siting of the Henderson Defence Precinct along the Henderson strip.

This is a critical milestone in the establishment of the Henderson Defence Precinct, which will be the home of continuous naval shipbuilding in Western Australia. It's where we will build our future general-purpose frigate, the Mogami class vessel, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. It will also be the home of the maintenance and sustainment of our future nuclear powered submarines under the banner of AUKUS.

This precinct will consist of dry docks, laydown areas, very large sheds. In time it will be the base for almost 6,000 workers, making it one of the largest industrial precincts in the country. It will really be the principal place of naval sustainment in Australia and a critical national asset.

A year ago, the Prime Minister announced a commitment of $12 billion towards this project, which is now in the budget—$12 billion of an anticipated $25 billion over the decade and, in fact, more than that over a longer period in what is imagined to be a multidecade project. This is an example of what can be done when real money is committed to Defence, and that stands in stark contrast to what we saw in the lost Defence decade from those opposite.

Opposition members interjecting— Mr MARLES: It's really good to hear the noise here. It's really good to hear the bark. It would have been good if there'd been some bite when they were in office.

This project alone represents an increase of $12 billion in the Defence budget. In the entire time that those opposite were in government, they increased the Defence spend by just $10 billion. We've already done $117 billion.

We've done 12 times as much in four years as they did in nine. They were turning over Defence ministers every 18 months, building up a Defence ministers club— Mr Thompson interjecting— Mr MARLES: Phil, they were never going to let you be a part of it, mate. Unlike us, they don't appreciate a good mullet.

Mr Chester interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! No, I'll handle this. Resume your seat.

I've got this. I'm going to ask the Deputy Prime Minister to refer to members by their correct titles and— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my left, we're going to make sure that all members are shown respect.

We start showing respect by referring to people by their correct titles. Mr MARLES: Indeed, Mr Speaker. It's the member for Herbert.

As that Defence ministers club were happily sitting around feeling really pleased with themselves, they did precious little towards the defence of this country. Our government is committing real money to Defence spending, real defence capability, to keep Australians safe.