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

Again I want to thank the senator for his interest in this important topic. I have had the benefit of a half-day tour of an Astute class submarine at Barrow-in-Furness in the United Kingdom. This is a phenomenal piece of strategic capability, but it is extremely expensive—several billion euro, several billion pounds. Literally two generations of nuclear experience have gone into its development. We have none of that capacity. The debate should focus on whether we commence attaining that capacity, whether we should look at whether nuclear energy would provide to us advantages over current energy generation systems in the very long term. With respect to South Australia, we are trying to bring forward a program cost-effectively and we are fighting schedule every day. To introduce this would simply delay the program. (Time expired)