George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Ruston, I am glad you acknowledge that the valley of death, as it has been called—that is, the point at which the expiry of existing contracts means that jobs fall away until the next program can be commenced—was directly a legacy of the Labor government. Both the Secretary of the Department of Defence, Mr Richardson, and the Chief of Defence Force, Mark Binskin, have said that it was necessary, if we were going to avoid the 'valley of death', for these projects to be brought forward. That is not what occurred. For six years nothing was done. So we have brought forward the commencement of the offshore patrol vessels to 2018. We have brought forward the construction of the future frigates to 2020. The future frigates will be built in Adelaide. The government will make decisions in the near future as to the location of the construction of the offshore patrol vessels. (Time expired)