John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Campbell, Minister representing the Minister for Defence. I refer the minister to a Defence media release from 13 November 2006 about joint Australia-New Zealand Navy exercises off Perth this month. Can the minister confirm that the New Zealand ship HMNZS Te Kaha had an SH2G Seasprite helicopter on board? Is it not the case that New Zealand has had its Seasprite helicopters in service since 2001? Weren’t the 11 Seasprite helicopters ordered by Australia also supposed to have been delivered in 2001? Why is it, despite $1 billion of public money having been spent, that five years after the due date we are still waiting for a final decision as to whether the project will proceed or be dumped?