Australia has ordered and cancelled a fleet of submarines that have now cost taxpayers $4 billion, and the Morrison-Joyce Government cannot rule out further waste.
The Budget papers show that the Morrison-Joyce Government will waste another half a billion dollars this year on a fleet of submarines that will never arrive.
The Defence Budget Paper shows that on top of the $3.21 billion, another $494 million is going to be spent in 2022-23 on the cancelled Attack Class submarine program.
Concerningly, no certainty has been provided that there will not be more waste to come.
In fact, the Budget papers explicitly state the Budget does not take into account “costs associated with termination and transition out of contractual arrangements are identified.” How many more billions is tied up that we are not aware of?
This government is all announcement and no delivery when it comes to Defence.
They boast about defence spending, yet their cost blowouts run into the billions.
By contrast, they will spend just $227 million on all of our defence cooperation with countries in the South Pacific, South East Asia and the rest of the world combined.
The recent developments in the Solomon Islands underline the need for the Morrison-Joyce Government to urgently deliver on defence capability – as well as regional defence cooperation and assistance.
Scott Morrison’s focus is four weeks, not four years ahead and his incompetence is putting our national security at risk.