Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Defence, Senator Brandis, and it relates to the government's welcome announcement in Adelaide last month that it intended to spend $89 billion on future frigates, offshore patrol boats and future submarines and this would be 'centred on Adelaide'. On 20 August, the Adelaide Advertiser reported that the Defence Teaming Centre of SA had predicted that, based on the limited information released by the government, as little as $8 billion of the spend for surface ships could go to South Australia and, if the government decided to build the future submarines offshore, which has not been ruled out, as little as $19 billion of the total $89 billion announcement could be spent in South Australia. Could the minister please advise how much of the total $89 billion spend, which the government said would be 'centred on Adelaide', will be spent in South Australia and provide a breakdown of how many of each vessel will be built and what the cost of each of the projects will be?