Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Gallacher for his question. Today is the day on which it is expected that submissions will be received from the three proponents in the competitive evaluation process for the future submarines. Those participants are DCNS of France, TKMS of Germany and the government of Japan, as is well known. The competitive evaluation process seeks from the proponents a very comprehensive response in the submissions that they are forwarding to the government. It seeks a large amount of technical information, quite clearly and self-evidently. It will be considered in due course by Defence, by the future submarines office, and advice will be provided to government.

In relation to the details of the submarine process, as the senator well knows, they are indeed an integral part of the white paper, the integrated investment program and the defence industry policy, which will be released in the first quarter of next year, as I indicated at the Submarine Institute conference in Adelaide about two weeks ago now.