Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Alongside the member for Fremantle, I recently spent 24 hours off the Western Australian coast on HMAS Collins, living, overnight, the life of our submariners. It gave us a frontline appreciation of how they live for months on end and of our submarine's strategic capabilities. This was about a week before the AUKUS announcement, and as is my habit I was keen to glean our submariners' view on nuclear propulsion. It was unanimous for the submariners—they want nuclear-powered submarines because they are safer and harder to detect as they don't have to come to the surface as frequently as a submarine on a diesel engine.

There is no doubt the government's decision that Australia has a nuclear-powered submarine fleet will improve our defence capability in an increasingly challenging environment. This decision, made possible because of a change of policy by our closest allies, is supported by Labor. We must not forget, in the politics of the AUKUS decision, that this decision has a major impact not only on our geostrategic position and capability but also, importantly, on those whose lives depend on us getting this procurement right and on time—our submariners. We must ensure that the Morrison government's record of completely and utterly mishandling our Future Submarine Program to date does not continue with this critical new nuclear-powered project. Our security and so many Australian jobs also depend on getting this right. It's vital that the acquisition of this new defence capability is done on time, on budget and, as much as possible, using Australians for our sovereign defence industry. (Time expired)