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

My question is to the Minister for Defence. Does the minister recall that, in 2011, the then head of the Future Submarine program, Rear-Admiral Moffitt, told him that to acquire the capability required by the Future Submarine project, Australia would have to 'undertake a new design'. Rear-Admiral Moffitt also stated that the Japanese Soryu Class submarine did not match Australia's future submarine requirements. Given that the Soryu Class submarine will not meet the strategic needs of the ADF, why is the minister refusing to rule out buying Japanese submarines or is he prepared to reduce the capability available to our defence forces?