About David
David served in the Australian Defence Force for over 22 years. An Army pilot, he flew helicopters and fixed wing aircraft and was the Senior Flying Instructor at the School of Army Aviation in Queensland.
Graduating as an experimental test pilot from the Empire Test Pilots’ School (UK), he finished his full time career in Defence as the Commanding Officer of the RAAF Aircraft Research and Development Unit.
Elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Wakefield (SA) in 2004, he served in the Parliament until 2007. David continued to fly as a test pilot and ran a small business working in the Defence and Aviation sectors prior to being elected to the Senate in 2010, 2016 and again in 2019.
In the (45th) Parliament, David was sworn as the Assistant Minister for Defence.
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It was good to attend a Community Forum on Defence in Adelaide this week with Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie.
Andrew served on operations as a member of Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment prior to entering Parliament, where he has previously been appointed as the Assistant Minister for Defence.
Australia faces the most uncertain times since the Second World—highlighted just this week by another unprofessional and dangerous act by a fighter jet from the Chinese Communist Party firing flares in close proximity of an RAAF aircraft.
The weak response from the Albanese Government to this and similar previous incidents is compounded by their lengthy reviews and cuts to numerous Defence capability programs.
As I highlighted earlier this month, Australians really can’t trust the Albanese Government on Defence.
Andrew Hastie highlighted the circumstances our nation faces and outlined how the Coaltion will act decisively to keep Australians safe against rising threats domestically and internationally.
Thanks to Nicolle Flint, Liberal Candidate for Boothby, and James Stevens MP, Federal Member for Sturt, for hosting this event. ... See MoreSee Less
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Read more of my comments on Defence: senatorfawcett.com.au/2025/01/australians-cant-trust-the-albanese-government-on-defence/
An important part of our defence posture is our aviation sector and General Aviation has suffered at the hands of the independent regulator CASA. It should be in a Department with a responsible Minister at head, this is the Westminster principle of having all the major arms of government firmly in political control. And we have Commonwealth airports like Moorabbin being subsumed into warehouse and factory precincts, hangars bulldozed all to the profit of the property developer lease holders. We need aerial mobility in Australia, due to the extraordinary, ever changing, complex and expensive regulatory strictures of CASA’s training regime we’ve lost hundreds of flying schools. If you can please look to reviving GA and we can once again have a prosperous GA industry which is recognised internationally and we can export our products and services again. Our regs are now so out of step we have practically no reciprocal qualifications. Have a look at NZ, we could take their regs and get started on a whole new era for Australian aviation. With respect, times up Senator, we must have new policy please.
How do I know that an election is near? When the opposition criticise a policy virtually identical to their own. Maybe you could criticise the brand of underwear they have on. Just saying
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A Dutton Coalition Government will work to deliver quality healthcare.
We will focus on delivering a world-class health system—with better health outcomes in the areas that are in desperate need of investment and reform.
This is why we have already announced that we will restore the Coalition’s doubling of Medicare-subsidised mental health sessions from 10 to 20 on a permanent basis.
We will also invest $400 million to re-build the GP workforce and encourage junior doctors to become GPs.
Learn more (link in comments). ... See MoreSee Less
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Learn more: liberal.org.au/our-plan
Billion dollar question why is Australia's health getting worse??
As always, it was good to meet with His Excellency Mr Darius Degutis, Ambassador of Lithuania to Australia, at Parliament House last week.
Australia and Lithuania have a strong bilateral relationship, underpinned by strong people-to-people links, including a strong Lithuanian community in South Australia. Our two countries both value the rule of law, liberal democracy, human rights, and free and open markets.
Mr Degutis and I discussed a range of matters—including the importance of ongoing support by Western democracies for Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression.
Between 1940 and 1991, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. As a result, the people of Lithuania have a better understanding than most that the freedoms we enjoy in the West must never be taken for granted. ... See MoreSee Less
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Here we go . How much is this going to cost Australia?
The Liberals need to stop giving implicit support to Trump and his plans to “make peace” with Vladimir Putin in violation of international law. The problem of Russian expansionism is still with us and leaders like Trump are just modern appeasers.
Yep, I came from Czechoslovakia. We were occupied and despised the occupiers.
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A new in-depth report by global credit rating agency Moody has revealed the significant cost of Labor’s renewables-only transition to net zero over the next decade.
The Albanese Government was elected promising a $275 reduction to power bills. Instead, in South Australia, power bills are now up to $958 higher than Labor promised they would be.
South Australians pay for the most expensive electricity in the nation—and among the most expensive in the world.
The Coalition has a plan to get Australia’s energy policy back on track by investing in a balanced energy mix—including nuclear, renewables and gas.
Learn more about our plan (link in comments). ... See MoreSee Less
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Learn more: www.australianeedsnuclear.org.au
I said this as soon as they gave subsidises the price will just go up and it will never help
Leave Paris agreement. Coal is the cheapest and it was working fine before all this nonsense!