Defence #estimates on this morning. When will get the first nuclear submarine delivered under AUKUS? By 2040 as the PM has indicated? The head of sub taskforce says that is the "right hand marker" which he wants to "drag left." He wants "at least one boat" in the water by 2040 1/
Are we looking at leasing out US or UK submarines to help fill the gap given the Collins Class subs are coming towards the end of their lives in the 2030s? The head of the Defence Dept Greg Moriarty seems pretty definitive- he says no 2/
Labor's Penny Wong says the Govt is trying to "eke out the last years of an ageing platform" (Collins) in the hope of covering the gap before the nuclear subs theoretically arrive
Wong: "pretty risky don't you reckon?"
Moriarty: "The PM has said this is a high risk program"
3/
Wong: "pretty risky don't you reckon?"
Moriarty: "The PM has said this is a high risk program"
3/
Back on this hearing. Wong is asking about these comments from the UK's departing Chief of the Defence Staff that AUKUS "is not designed to be in any way exclusive." Neither CDF or Moriarty seem to know quite what Carter was talking about 4/ abc.net.au/news/2021-10-2…
Marise Payne says there are "no plans" to expand AUKUS itself "at this stage." But also says the partnership is not "exclusive" and "there is plenty of potential for initiatives under AUKUS to naturally intersect with other cooperative relationships" 5/
Some news. Officials say they have dumped the plan to build a large new naval ship to help Pacific nations deal with natural disasters. Instead they will *purchase* the new ship in order to get it into the region more quickly. Some background 👇6/ smh.com.au/politics/feder…
Where is the public announcement on this, asks Wong? There was no public announcement. The Government dumped the plan quietly. Officials say they informed the domestic ship-building industry earlier this year 7/
Payne says circumstances changed. There is already a lot of work going on in Australian shipyards and the Govt wants to get the new vessel into the Pacific next year. Wong says it's a broken promise and starts laying into the Government. People start yelling. Hearing suspended 8/
Looks like Defence flagged this shift at the last estimates on June 1 and provided formal advice to Dutton about a week after that. He clearly ticked off the decision sometime after that 9/ HT @Benfeltondef 
It's an intriguing exchange actually. Noonan says the "original proposal" was to purchase (rather than build) a vessel. So - Christopher Pyne dismissed that advice because he wanted a domestic build? Has that fed into the delay? 10/
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
