Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

My job as part of the NSC is to make sure that Defence properly contracts with suppliers for items and materiel which the National Security Committee agrees should be acquired by Defence. The management of those particular contracts is then a matter for the defence department, under the overall auspices of the FMA. Where suppliers fail to meet their contractual requirements, particular contracts will have penalty clauses attached to them. It is a matter for the defence department to pursue the relevant penalty clauses if there are breaches of contract by suppliers, and I have no doubt that the defence department will be doing that, as required.