Tony Abbott: Labor would give us Putin-class boats

TONY Abbott has ridiculed Labor’s demand for an open tender on the navy’s future submarine project.

TONY Abbott has ridiculed Labor’s demand for a tender on the navy’s future submarine project, holding out the prospect of “Putin-class subs” in a new defence of government procurement policy.

The Prime Minister accused the opposition yesterday of an “antediluvian xenophobia” over its concerns about a secret deal with Japan, warning that an open tender could open up the contract to companies in Russia and North Korea.

However, when pressed in question time, Mr Abbott declined to provide further clarity on a possible agreement with Tokyo and confirmed that discussions were continuing.

Labor has accused Mr Abbott of using the project, worth at least $20 billion, as a bargaining chip to secure votes after South Australian senator Sean Edwards said the Prime Minister promised an “open, competitive tender” on the eve of Monday’s leadership spill.

Mr Abbott said he never made the offer, instead giving a commitment to hold a “competitive evaluation process” that senior ministers and Senator Edwards have since struggled to explain.

“They’re both competitive processes, but an open tender is there for anyone and the last thing we would want to see is a Russian company, for argument’s sake, bidding to produce an Australian submarine,” Mr Abbott said yesterday.

Asked in the parliament about the process, Mr Abbott mounted an aggressive defence of the government’s position.

“You know about an open tender? Anyone can compete,” he said. “What the Leader of the Opposition wants, he wants anyone to be able to compete to provide Australia’s next-generation submarines.

“He might want the Russians to compete. The Putin-class subs.

“First of all he attacks the Japanese in some bout of antediluvian xenophobia, he says we can’t possibly have Japanese involvement in the submarine contract, look at what happened in Sydney Harbour.

“Now he says we’ve got to have an open tender. Well, we could have Kim Jong-il submarines.”

However, opposition defence spokesman Stephen Conroy has not called for an “open” tender but has backed a “competitive” tender.

“This is a ridiculous accusation by an increasingly desperate Prime Minister who has been caught out trading submarines for votes to secure his leadership,” Senator Conroy said yesterday.

“Labor announced in November last year at the Submarine Institute of Australia Conference that there should be a proper competitive tender process for our new submarine fleet, with a funded project definition study.”

Mr Abbott went on to accuse Labor of cutting billions from defence while in government and failing to place a single naval shipbuilding order. However, he refused to provide clarity on any Japanese deal.

“We are certainly talking to the Japanese about a whole range of defence co-operation,” he said.

“We’re not just talking to the Japanese.

“We are talking to the French. We are talking to the Germans and, Madam Speaker, we are talking to the Australian Submarine Corporation.”