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

As I was saying, this is a very complex process. It is a process which has been underway for some time between the Department of Defence and other parties, of course including the government of Singapore. The detailed planning which took place and led to the finalisation and signing of the memorandum of understanding with Singapore on 13 October 2016 actually formally set out the agreed parameters of the increased training access that Australia would offer. It represented the formal agreement by both countries to the scale of the increased access Singapore would be offered. That was not finalised until October of last year. Following the signature of the MOU, Defence was then able to begin the process of detailed master planning so that the precise requirements could be clarified and engagement could begin with stakeholders.