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

The reason that it is necessary to replace the RAN's supply vessels as quickly as possible is that those opposite did nothing. As you are aware, Australia has two supply ships, HMAS Success and HMAS Sirius. Both are rapidly approaching their end of life. Sirius is a converted commercial tanker and it has a number of operational compromises. It is relatively slow, and there are constraints on the amount of solid cargo it can transfer at sea.

Success will next month see its 30th year of service. Because of its age it requires regular, costly maintenance to even keep it in service. So frequent are the maintenance requirements for the two vessels, there are times where both Sirius and Success are undergoing repairs at the same time and Australia relies on the Royal New Zealand Navy's HMNZS Endeavour.

Senator Lines interjecting—