Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Lambie. I can understand why there might be companies who will be disappointed with the government's determination and decision to make sure that the very substantial resource allocation is focused on the things that the DSR—the Defence strategic reviewoutlines as Australia really needing. And I appreciate that there will be private sector firms who have a different view to that. I think the authors of the DSR, Sir Angus and Mr Smith, made very clear their assessment of what was required and of which capability needs to be focused on, and that did require some hard decisions. Those hard decisions in relation to some capability are made in the context of increasing allocation to other capabilities, including submarines, for the strategic reasons that the Deputy Prime Minister has outlined.