Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to take the minister to program 3.1 in the portfolio budgets, which relates to Antarctica, science, policy and presence. In particular, I want to deal with the life span for the Aurora Australis. I would like to know: for what period of time is it now expected that the Aurora Australis, or the Antarctic icebreaker, will be capable of performing its duties? Is there a risk that it will no longer be able to do that within the time needed to build a new icebreaker? In particular, why hasn't there been any funding allocated for the construction of a replacement of the Aurora Australis? If the icebreaker is at risk of not being ready in the out-years of the budget, why has there been no money allocated for flights to Antarctica?

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