Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whilst Senator Ferguson says he listens to contributions with interest, so do I. It is a very interesting contribution from those opposite when they say, ‘We have a very good conventional submarine fleet.’ Indeed, we do, but we would have to have the only very good conventional submarine fleet in the world that cannot go underwater. It cannot be allowed to submerge because this government has not got around to sorting out what is happening with the rescue vessel.

The rescue vessel sank off the coast of my home state of Western Australia and, until we work out whether we are going to replace it or go and salvage and fix it, the submarines are not going anywhere. I do not blame the Navy for making that decision. Until this government works out what it is going to do with the rescue vessel, we have a whole bunch of very good conventional submarines that cannot be submerged. It is a bit like the helicopters that this government decided to purchase—they could not fly over water or at night. This is ridiculous. They call themselves good financial managers and yet they buy a whole bunch of things we cannot use, such as helicopters that cannot fly over water or at night, they do not provide the capacity to utilise these things properly and they are more than happy to spend up to billions of dollars on these things.