Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The good news, Mr Acting Deputy President Williams, is that I will not need your protection, to borrow the phrase from my learned colleague. I rise to speak on this urgency motion. There is an absolute need, despite what our new colleague from South Australia says, for the Abbott government to keep its pre-election promise to design and build Australia's future submarine fleet in Adelaide. This issue is of the most serious importance for South Australia and our country. Before the election—and this goes to the heart of this debate—Senator David Johnston, now the Minister for Defence, stood outside submarine builder ASC in Adelaide and said the following in a video clip that I will now show the chamber on my iPad:

The coalition today is committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide.

Straight up and out. It is as simple as that—