My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston. I refer the minister to an article written last year by former CDF and now Governor-General and Commander in Chief, Peter Cosgrove, entitled, 'Why our submarines need to be built in Australia'. I quote:

To outsource this work would be to export hundreds of billions of dollars of work to supporting another country’s industry and jobs, rather than investing in our own.

… … …

This is short-sighted thinking.

Minister, was General Cosgrove right?