Taxpayers will be forced to pay at least $3.5 billion for a life-of-type extension (LOTE) on Australia’s Collins Class submarines due to the increasing delays in the Morrison Government’s mismanagement of the Future Submarines Program.
This admission is in response to Labor Questions on Notice.
Defence will not confirm the full cost of the Collins LOTE program, but as revealed in reports today, this could be anywhere between $6 and $15 billion.
These revelations come after Labor questioning revealed the cost of the Future Submarines Program, which was originally estimated at $50 billion, has blown out to $89.7 billion.
Delays in the project mean the first of the new Future Submarines, which were originally scheduled to be in the water in the mid-2020s, will not be delivered until the mid-2030s.
We have witnessed a $40 billion cost blow out and a 10-year delay to this critical national defence project since 2013.
Australians are paying a massive price and the nation faces the risk of a significant defence capability gap due to seven years of Coalition mismanagement.
The 10-year delay to the Future Submarines Program means taxpayers will now have to pay at least $3.5 billion on an upgrade to the Collins Class submarines and our Navy will be forced to operate submarines 60 years after they were first designed.
The Future Submarine Program continues to drift due to a revolving door of weak and distracted Defence Ministers.
Urgent intervention is needed and the Morrison Government must come clean with the Australian people on their management of this project.