Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I am not sure that Senator Wong grasps the premises of the white paper, particularly in relation to the aspects of the Integrated Investment Program and the work that will be required to basically bring to fruition the government's commitments in the white paper. If she did, then she would be aware that we will deliver thousands of jobs in shipbuilding across Australia for thousands of Australian workers. The reason that we are able to do that is that, unlike those opposite, we are actually engaged at this point in time, just for starters, in three separate competitive evaluation processes—one with which the senator is very much familiar, the competitive evaluation process for the Future Submarine, and two others for offshore patrol vessels and for the Future Frigates—all three of which will, as they progress to fruition, bring significant amounts of industry activity and employment to Australian industry.