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Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy has verbally lashed out at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during an announcement at the Avalon Airshow.
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The Opposition Leader stated earlier this year that Australia should not buy British submarines, instead pursuing American Virginia Class nuclear submarines as the only option.
“There is no question in my mind that that option is still on the table. The ability to make sure that we can keep our region safe is really dependent on the acquisition of those assets,” Dutton said.
“I hope that the Prime Minister is able to continue to press the case because when we negotiated AUKUS, when the coalition negotiated AUKUS, it was clear to us, as it’s now clear to the government, that the intelligence is that we live in a very uncertain time, the most uncertain time since the Second World War.”
During the Avalon announcement on 1 March, Minister Conroy said the comments were incredibly irresponsible.
“This was a man who received classified briefings up until the May 21 on this program. He is either being mischievous or he’s not privy to the latest information,” Minister Conroy said.
“I’ve just come back from Barrow in the United Kingdom, where I’ve got a full briefing on what the United Kingdom is doing. I stay in regular contact with the US Navy, and we’ll make announcements very shortly about the optimal path forward on our nuclear propelled submarines.
“But what I can say to you is, we are dealing with 10 years of waste from the last government. I’m not being political about it. We would be in a much better position if they hadn’t chopped and changed so much.
“We had delays in terms of deciding on a replacement for the Collins Class. They then went down the path of trying to offshore the work to Japan. They then had the contract with the French, which they then tore up, and now we’re trying to repair that damage. And what the Deputy Prime Minister has committed to is when we make the announcement, we’ll be very clear about what is the optimal path forward.
“When we came into government, there was a serious risk of having a capability gap and now we are confident that we have a pathway to resolve that capability gap. That will be detailed when we make the announcement.
“I just think it’s incredible for Peter Dutton to make these comments like they’re mischievous, they undermine confidence in the program and it’s like the arsonist burning down a house and they’re complaining about how long it takes for the fire brigade to get there.
“This man has caused this problem. He’s a man who’s driven 28 projects to be 97 years late. And I just find it completely unhelpful in the public debate for him to be injecting this stuff when he knows that there are security reasons that mean that we can’t detail information until we make the announcement.”
The verbal smackdown followed an announcement regarding local manufacturing for the Australian Army’s upcoming Apache program and significant funding announcement for Australia’s uncrewed autonomous aircraft, the Ghost Bat.
It was announced that Defence will acquire 10 Ghost Bats for more than $600 million, supporting more than 55 Australian suppliers. This is the first time the Ghost Bat has been on display at the airshow.
