Christopher Pyne famously declared himself a "fixer". Now the woman taking over his old job has vowed to go further.
In her first speech since taking Mr Pyne's old Defence Industry portfolio, Melissa Price dubbed herself the "deliverer".
"It is in my DNA to push projects to be on time and on budget," the former commercial lawyer told a group of business leaders from the defence sector last night.
During this year's election the former environment minister was derided by Labor as an "endangered species" because of her low profile.
Now the demoted West Australian MP is promising to help deliver "a robust, sustainable and internationally competitive defence industry".
"Our plan to invest $200 billion in defence capability, and the introduction of our Defence Industry plans has created and supported thousands of Australian jobs," Ms Price told the AI Group Defence Council national executive dinner.
"My job now is to identify and remove road blocks to deliver on our plan."
The new Minister for Defence Industry said she wanted to help more Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs) succeed in a sector that was dominated by large, mostly multi-national arms dealers.
"If we want a stronger defence industrial base, we need to maximise the involvement and success of Australian SMEs," she said.
She highlighted the Government's recent $340 million investment in the construction of 21 Guardian class patrol vessels with Perth-based company Austal.
"Australia is already home to some of the world's most advanced and technologically sophisticated capability solutions and some of the most innovative and hardworking companies," Ms Price said.
"However more needs to be done for our SMEs to succeed on the global stage."
