Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Pearce for her very important question. In coming to office, the Albanese Labor government has inherited a defence procurement mess. When those opposite were in power, there were 28 different programs that were running a total of 97 years over time. The Hunter class frigates were four years late and $15 billion over budget. The Spartan battlefield aircraft was 4½ years late and unable to fly into a battlefield. The offshore patrol vessels were a year late and the evolved Cape class patrol vessels were another year late. That's before we even start talking about submarines. When it came to defence announcements, those opposite were best-in-class. There was vaudeville, hoopla; we saw Top Gun music—it was always showtime.

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