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

Thank you very much, Mr President. The premise of Senator Patrick's question is completely incorrect. But that doesn't surprise me; he has changed his views so often that he doesn't even have the consistency of former Senator Nick Xenophon.

Frankly, what I have said sets out the approach that the government would take in relation to sustainment. There are a range of issues: how we would meet our operational requirements and how we would get the best capability outcomes. But, ultimately, the reality of the government's decision to double the size of our future submarine fleet, as well as to design and to build our future submarines domestically, means the size of the submarine workforce in Australia, in Adelaide, will need to increase dramatically—dramatically. And the senator is well aware of that.

Indeed, as we know, the future submarine program is expected to create an annual average of around 2,800 jobs in Australia, even before we consider the sustainment needs of the fleet that will transition between two classes and that will double in size. Now, they are the facts of the position— (Time expired)