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

HMAS Success and HMAS Sirius are both very old and tired vessels. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to sustain and maintain both of them. As Warren King, the head of the DMO, told the inquiry, the decision was there to be made in 2008—and guess what? They did not take it. They squibbed it. So we are in urgent need of being able to replenish our ships at sea, our major fleet units, with proper resupply ships. And what we have to do when Success is in maintenance? We have to sail our frigates back to Darwin to refuel them. This is because the Labor Party take no responsibility. Not only did they rip $16 billion out of the defence budget; they did not make any decisions with respect to shipbuilding. Even Martin Hamilton-Smith criticised his own Premier— (Time expired)