Before the last election, the shadow defence minister, David Johnston, said: "The Coalition ... is committed to building 12 new submarines here in Adelaide." That commitment appears to have been "non-core". Johnston got to the point where he doubted ASC (formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation) could build a canoe, while Abbott warmed to the idea of getting new submarines from Japan.
The government crab-walked away from a pre-election undertaking and left a sour taste on the well-developed palates of the "people of South Australia" and their federal parliamentary representatives. So Abbott tried recently to minimise the loss of South Australian Liberal Party support for him as Prime Minister by calling one of the state's Liberal senators, Sean Edwards, about the submarines. Subsequently, the senator said his constituents should be "hat-throwing" because the government would have a "full and open tender" for the subs. Alas, Abbott reckons he didn't say that and began talking about a "competitive evaluation process", something Defence Minister Kevin Andrews couldn't explain and which seemed to be news to senior military leaders.
The fed government leadership still has a massive communication problem on this issue. Hardly news right?
Open thread, replacing the Australian Collins Submarine
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