Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Blair for his question and note the significant impact that the government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan will have on his electorate. As part of the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, the government provided Defence Housing Australia with $251.6 million for the building of 802 dwellings for Australian Defence Force personnel in metropolitan and regional areas across the country. The member for Blair’s electorate will benefit from the construction of 133 new dwellings as a result of this program.

I am pleased to announce that strong progress has been made since February of this year, when the plan was first launched. Seven building contracts have been signed, worth $24.5 million, to build 100 houses. These are in Brisbane, at Pickering Hill; in Adelaide, at Andrews Farm; and in Ipswich, at Fairview Rise. Construction of these dwellings will commence in a few weeks. By June of this year, we expect to sign another 32 contracts for a further 283 houses. Under the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, construction will be carried out in 17 areas across Australia—in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Townsville, Ipswich, Sydney and many other places. It is estimated that the building program will support up to 2,000 jobs.

I can also flag today that DHA will soon establish an apprenticeships program to support DHA’s expanding building program, bringing forward their pre-existing building schedule by some 74 per cent. The new apprenticeships program will deliver 20 new four-year apprenticeships to provide employment and training opportunities in locations where DHA will have intensive building activity over the next few years. Nicole Quinn, the National Convenor of Defence Families Australia, said about this program:

DHA is very excited to see such an extensive rollout of new housing for ADF members and their families. It is great to see the government recognising the support ADF families provide to our serving members. This extra housing is a welcome step to accommodate Defence families with modern housing in recognition of the transient lives they lead.

That is a very strong endorsement of this program. It is a program that is very popular with the defence community across Australia. It is a program which will create job opportunities and opportunities for small business across the community. I find it passing strange, then, that the following members of this House, whose electorates will actually benefit from this construction activity—

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