David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

All of this froth at the mouth simply discloses this particular senator's extreme ignorance as to the state of the Japanese Constitution. Japan has a very constricted defence posture at the moment because of its Constitution. If the senator had the faintest idea what he was talking about—which he does not—he would understand that it is simply not that simple. In dealing with the matter of submarines—having seen the Labor Party, with huge fanfare, announce a program that had no money and no work done over five years—we are starting, as I said, with a very clean sheet of paper. We are consulting the Germans, the French, the Brits and the US. (Time expired)