Canberra’s consideration of a potential foreign takeover bid for Perth shipbuilder Austal could be pushed into next year, as the Albanese government prioritises picking the designer of a new $10 billion frigate project.

The general purpose frigate contract is pitting Austal’s determined Korean suitor Hanwha against fellow foreign shipbuilders TKMS (Germany), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (Japan) and Navantia (Spain).