This bombshell broke yesterday with the so called leak of Govt details on delaying new submarines until the mid 2030’s. I am interested in what it really means to extend the Collins Class life to that extent.
Last December I added some extracts about the Collins Class from a defence publication.
Asia-Pacific Defence Review – April 2012 pages 28 to 31 are in David Archibald’s book – pages 34 to 43. A sensational read for many who have not kept up with news of the Collins Class submarines.
Here is a tiny excerpt from end of page 30 which staggered me – in view diesel engines have been made since the late 19th Century.
However Australia’s Defence does not reproduce the following article in APDR from page 32 to 36 titled – “Collins Class – life extend or euthanase”. The following para sums up at the end.
I had read the extracts from the defence magazine, the whole thing is great reading but perhaps the question we should be asking is; “Does anybody believe Collins Class submarines have ever been effective?”
Has there ever been a worse defence purchase anywhere ever?
It is a stroke of great luck that, so far, we had had no use to deploy the Collins Class submarines in a conflict, as it looks as if they would have either been in for a service or broken down at the time of that conflict They will survive into the 2020’s only as some kind of military museum exhibit.
A reader sent in this text from The Australian
Subsgate: Malcolm Turnbull fires shot across Tony Abbott’s bow
David Crowe The Australian March 3, 2016 12:00AM
Malcolm Turnbull in question time yesterday.
Malcolm Turnbull has fired a warning shot at Tony Abbott over the growing disunity within government ranks, calling in the federal police to investigate a security leak as MPs worry about the political damage from the former leader’s actions.
Despite Mr Abbott’s denying he leaked classified documents, his colleagues criticised him for lending weight to a report in The Australian yesterday that highlighted delays in the development of a new submarine fleet.
Liberals warned that the “sniping” from the former leader had turned into a “full-frontal attack” that could lead to the destruction of the Turnbull government if it continued into an election campaign.
“This is not about a return to power, as with Kevin Rudd, this is a full-frontal attack,” said one MP, who believed Mr Abbott was intent on “blowing the place up” even if that meant the political death of his colleagues.
More: Shipbuilders shown door at ASC More: Upgraded subs ‘will be best’ More: We must take security seriously
The author of the report, The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan, told Sky News Mr Abbott was not his source.
“I can say this much to you .. the source wasn’t Tony Abbott,’’ Sheridan said.
“I went to Tony Abbott with my information and interviewed him on the record and, as he says, what he says is on the record.”
Labor seized on the leak to exploit government divisions on the second day of Coalition discord, after Mr Abbott spoke out on Tuesday to warn against tax reforms that might scale back negative gearing.
The investigation into the leak was launched at about lunchtime yesterday after Mr Turnbull met Defence Minister Marise Payne, Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson and Defence Force chief Mark Binskin to discuss the exposure.
Taunted over the leak by Bill Shorten in question time yesterday, Mr Turnbull announced the Defence Department secretary had “initiated an investigation, which will obviously be conducted by the Australian Federal Police, into the apparent leak of these classified documents”.
Those with access to the confidential drafts included defence personnel and members of the national security committee of cabinet at the time: Mr Abbott, deputy prime minister Warren Truss, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Attorney-General George Brandis, treasurer Joe Hockey, defence minister Kevin Andrews and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
The Australian reported the Turnbull government’s defence white paper, released last week, delayed the acquisition of replacement submarines for the Collins-class submarines by nearly a decade, compared with the draft produced under Mr Abbott.
MPs who voted for Mr Abbott last September, when he was replaced by Mr Turnbull, criticised their former leader for contributing to a report that was damaging to the government.
“It’s an appalling breach of national security,” one MP said of the leak of whole sections of the draft defence white paper. “When you think of things that should never find their way out of the bureaucracy or ministry, the defence white paper falls well within that category. This is outrageous.”
The white paper commits to acquiring 12 new regionally superior conventional submarines, “with the first submarines likely to begin entering service in the early 2030s”.
When former defence minister Kevin Andrews announced on February 20 last year the competitive evaluation process to choose the replacement boat for the Collins, he said it would be necessary for the first such submarine to be built by the mid-2020s. There is no explanation in the white paper for the slippage of nearly a decade.
Mr Abbott denied he was the source. “I don’t leak, I don’t background. If I’ve got something to say, I say it,” he told Sky News.
MPs said Mr Abbott should not have lent weight to the report by saying he was “flabbergasted” at a decision that delayed the deployment of new submarines.
The Prime Minister’s allies believe he can survive any undermining because Mr Abbott remains relatively unpopular while Mr Turnbull has a strong lead in the polls as preferred prime minister over Mr Shorten.
Industry Minister Christopher Pyne put that view publicly yesterday.
“The polls strongly indicate that the public are pro Malcolm Turnbull because they know he’s the best person to lead the country,” he told Adelaide radio station 5AA. “There are no more classified documents than ones that are in the national security committee and therefore the government will take this leak to The Australian very seriously