David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, Senator Bob Carr. I refer the minister to the comments he made in the Senate on 17 September:

… by deferring Defence acquisitions and adjusting the Defence capital equipment program … There will be no adverse impact on operations—they are all fully funded. There will be no adverse impact on military numbers in the navy, army or air force. There will be no adverse important implications for kit for forces about to be deployed or in deployment. There will be no reductions in conditions or entitlements for servers—

Given that, following the minister's comments, jungle training exercises for the SAS and commandos have been scrapped and training days for the Holsworthy based 2 Commando Regiment have been slashed, how can the minister stand by his statement?