Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that the minister has refused to overrule the Foreign Minister's statement of the prospect of purchasing even an entire submarine from Japan, will he now admit to the Senate that his pre-election promise to build 12 new submarines in South Australia was a lie? Why is the government planning to kill off Australia's submarine-building capacity just like it has killed off our shipbuilding industry?