Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

It was very clear from Minister Johnston's intervention today that the five or six years under Labor were characterised by absolutely no contracts and no obligations. It is hypocritical for Senator Gallacher to come to this place, stand here and berate us on this side after Labor's appalling legacy in this space. This is a government which will make decisions on naval matters and on defence matters. And we will make those decisions for the right reasons. It is vitally important that Defence acquisitions have to be made on the basis of Defence logic—not industry policy, not regional policy, but on the basis of sound Defence policy.

As Minister Johnston has said, we have not yet made a final decision on the design and the build of the next generation of Australian submarines. What we do know is that we will be having more submarines. The bulk of the work on this project will be centred around the South Australian shipyards to take advantage of the work that has been done in that area over many, many years. This, of course, is consistent with our pre-election commitment. Labor in government failed to make a vitally important decision in relation to submarines over the six years they were in government. It is important now that we move quickly to fill this capability gap, because, as the minister said, it is now a decision about avoiding a capability gap.

It was demonstrated very clearly by the minister in his answer to Senator Conroy that when he opened box SEA 1000—