Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Minister Payne. The 2016 Defence white paper says the government would be acquiring seven Triton drones at a cost of between $3 billion and $4 billion. Today, only two years into the life of the white paper, the government has instead said it would be acquiring six drones at a cost of $7 billion. This amounts to a doubling of the cost or a blowout of more than 100 per cent. Can you please clarify for the Senate exactly how many drones you are buying and what they are costing, and, if today's reports are accurate, given you are spending nearly $200 billion of taxpayers' money on defence, how can the Australian people have any confidence that there won't be billions and billions of dollars more in cost blowouts?