Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Gilmore, I suspect, will be interested in this, if those who sit on the front bench are not. The decision to cancel the Seasprite helicopter project is one that should have been taken by the former government years ago. They had the same facts and figures available to them as we now have available to us, but the reality is they put their own political interests in front of the national interest. You will recall that sitting on the former national security committee were the now Leader of the Opposition, the former Treasurer, the former Minister for Foreign Affairs and the former Attorney-General. Since the NSC, under the Howard government, last made the decision to proceed with the Seasprite helicopter project, some $26 million of additional taxpayers’ money has been spent on that project—a $26 million gamble with taxpayers’ money by the former National Security Committee of Cabinet.

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