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

I thank Senator Gallacher for his question. It is concerning, and I am concerned, that the job losses that have been announced this week at ASC are occurring, but it is absolutely the case that those opposite placed not one single order for one single vessel in the entire time of their period in government. As I have made very clear before—and as Mr Lamarre has made clear in Senate estimates—the so-called valley of death was unavoidable because of that. The difference is that this government is commissioning offshore patrol vessels, future frigates and future submarines. That is the difference. As I said in the chamber earlier in the week, it is hypocritical in the extreme for the opposition to say what they are saying about the commissioning of the supply ships. When they released that document in May 2013, they sought examination of options for local, hybrid and overseas builds or for leasing of an existing vessel. That is what they did. At the time, they also knew that they had advice that an Australian build of the replacement supply ships was not viable. Their own 2013 Future submarine industry skills plan states that the common user facility in Adelaide which supports ASC is not capable of accommodating the large supply ships as the current ship lift would require to be significantly lengthened in order to carry vessels the size of the replacement supply ships. (Time expired)