Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I was asked about defence in South Australia, and that is exactly what I am talking about. The government will spend $34 million in South Australia on the Future Submarine program, building our competencies and knowledge base in cooperation with industry. South Australia is also home to 58 separate sustainment programs, including the sustainment of the Collins class submarine and the Jindalee over-the-horizon radar network. So there is $1 billion worth of defence procurement going on in South Australia right now and, on that, the member for Mayo and Senator Edwards are absolutely in agreement. They love it. They both love it, as they should. But I tell you what we are not going to do. We will have a competitive overvaluation process, but I tell you what: we will not go to open tender, because only Labor wants to see Australian submarines possibly built in Russia or North Korea.

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