Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We have worked with senators. I contacted Senator Conroy and Senator Xenophon, who were moving this motion, to see if we could have that clause removed. The Greens do have a very clear policy around the defence of this nation and its self-defence, but, as was highlighted by the government, we are not committing to the procurement of 12 submarines without more information. We have grave concerns about an escalation of submarine numbers from the six we currently have to 12 and about what their roles would be. We also would like to highlight that $70 billion could be effectively spent in other areas of defence, and we do not have the information we need to support 12 submarines. However, we have also made it very clear that we do support local procurement and we have said this publicly before. We have also told the various unions and workers groups we would support any submarines being made in South Australia and in Australia rather than being made overseas, but we will not be committing to 12 submarines at this point.