Senator ABETZ (Tasmania—Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Minister for Employment) (14:00): I was surprised to learn today of the announcement by the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Defence spokesman in relation to Labor's plan, during which time I noted that the Leader of the Opposition boldly claimed that no-one was calling for an open tender in relation to this particular project, despite— Senator Conroy: That was me. Senator ABETZ: Exactly. No-one was, despite the fact—and he has now just admitted it—that the shadow minister himself had called for an open tender not once, not twice but three times. So the Labor Party comes to this having done nothing on the submarine program for six years whilst in office. They now want a process which would take another five years before we come to a landing in relation to this issue. The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Moore: Mr President, I raise a point of order on direct relevance to the question that was asked, which was about a statement of government support for Australia's Future Submarine project, particularly building, maintaining and sustaining. It is a point of order on direct relevance to the question asked. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Moore. The minister has barely gone through half his answer. Senator ABETZ: What I had just done was contextualise the situation, bringing us up to date with where we are now. The government's position is very clear: the safety and security of our citizens has to be the No. 1 priority. So the government is determined to get the best submarine capability available and the best value for money for taxpayers through a competitive evaluation process. We are not going to prejudge what that is, and what the Labor Party is saying is: 'We don't care what the Defence capacity is. We don't care what the cost is.' The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Senator Moore, do you have a point of order? Senator Conroy: That was your policy. The PRESIDENT: Senator Conroy, you have your colleague on her feet. Senator Moore: Mr President, I again rise on a point of order on direct relevance to the question that was asked. It was about bipartisan support to build, maintain and sustain submarines in Australia. The PRESIDENT: I think the minister was answering it by way of saying that the government will not commit. But the minister has 15 seconds left to answer the question. Senator ABETZ: The simple fact is, no matter what, there will be more submarines, and that means more jobs for South Australia under whatever methodology the government adopts for the acquisition of our submarine fleet. (Time expired)