David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Day for this question and for his op-ed on 16 October—I congratulate him on that piece of commentary. The Future Submarine program is, as I am sure the senator knows, the most significant investment in defence capability that is coming over the horizon for Australia. It is extremely important that we get this right, particularly when we are starting from scratch. The government is committed to delivering the most capable replacement submarines for Collins at the best price and with the least risk to our nation's future security. We owe it to our nation not to expose it to critical capability gaps that we now face because the previous government did nothing for six years on submarines, as I have said on so many occasions. We also of course owe it to taxpayers to provide value for money. A nuclear option is not currently coalition policy due to the significant costs and other strategic and logistical challenges we would face, given that Australia does not have, as we all know, a domestic nuclear energy generation industry.

Australia currently lacks the infrastructure, training facilities, regulatory and safety systems necessary to operate and maintain nuclear powered submarines. These would add considerably to the cost of our Future Submarine program and would take a substantial period of time to develop in order to be part of that program. Australia also currently lacks suitably qualified and experienced personnel within our Royal Australian Navy and across industry to safely operate and sustain nuclear powered submarines. I congratulate you on commencing the debate, if that is what we are doing. It is an important debate but it is a very expensive one.