Senator McEWEN (South Australia—Opposition Whip in the Senate) (15:31): I, too, would like to take note of the answers given today to Senator Conroy, which, once again, demonstrated the incredible mess that the coalition has got themselves into with regard to the future submarine project. The government promised before the last federal election to build the 12 future submarines in my home state of South Australia, in Adelaide. We know they back flipped on that promise. We know that the hapless former defence minister slurred the Australian Submarine Corporation. And we know that the Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, has done a deal with Japan to give the work to that country without any sensible, transparent and accountable tender process. It has been a saga of dreadful mishandling of the most important procurement process ever in the history of Australia. Today, I was very proud when the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, came out and offered an olive branch to the coalition—he offered a hand to the coalition—to get this most important procurement project right. We asked for their bipartisan support to put in place a decent, accountable process—an accountable process that would deliver for Australia and for South Australia the best possible, cost-effective submarines that are suitable for Australia's security. The process would guarantee the work is retained in Australia to build and to maintain those submarines and to ensure that we have the shipbuilding skills in Australia for the future. The process that Labor put forward today in South Australia—in my home state—would commence with the four most prominent non-nuclear submarine designers from Germany, France, Japan and Sweden. It would be a 12- to 18-month process, involving a request for proposals, a project definition study and a request for tender, with a decision taken by the end of 2016 about where we would get the design for the submarine from. It is a concrete, clear, accountable, sensible process. It is the first time we have had on the table a real process to ensure that the submarines that we desperately need in this country are built and, most importantly, maintained in Australia. It was disappointing that the coalition took barely any time to consider this very sensible bipartisan approach to them to fix this problem of the future submarine project. Almost immediately, the useless defence minister, Kevin Andrews, who was dumped into that position when he did not really want to be defence minister— Senator Abetz: I rise on a point of order. If she is going to use those sorts of descriptions— Senator Wong: She has a name: Senator McEwen. Senator Abetz: When there are male senators I say 'he' and when it is a female senator I say 'she'. If there is something offensive about that of course I withdraw that. Senator Wong: She has a name. Senator Abetz: I assume 'hes' also have a name, Senator Wong. But that does not overcome the fact that if the senator wishes to use that sort of terminology she may as well abide by the standing orders and refer to the minister appropriately. The PRESIDENT: Senator McEwen, you need to refer to members or ministers in the other place by their correct titles. Senator McEWEN: Thank you Mr President, I will attempt to do so, when it is warranted. As I was saying, what the Labor Party has put on the table today is a process that the coalition should sign-up to, because it is the most rational process. It is a reasonable process and one that will actually deliver. It was interesting that Senator Abetz had to take offence when I criticised the Minister for Defence. It just shows how rattled the coalition are by this whole process. Many of those opposite were disappointed by Mr Abbott's captain's pick, which only came about in the context of a potential leadership spill. When his own job was threatened, Mr Abbott suddenly invented this process, and coerced the defence minister into supporting him in this so-called tender process, which was demonstrated again today by Minister for Defence, Mr Andrews, as a fig leaf for a decision that has already been made. It is a fig leaf for a decision that has already been made in a dodgy deal that the Prime Minister has stitched up with Japan, and which will dud this country, because there are no guarantees under that dodgy deal that this important work will be done in Australia, in my home state. There is no guarantee at all. As a passionate South Australian, and a great fan of the Australian Submarine Corporation and a person determined to ensure that we have skilled manufacturing jobs in my home state of South Australia, I implore the coalition to put the past behind us and to join with Labor to ensure that this most important defence procurement project is delivered in Australia and guarantees jobs for Australians and guarantees the security of Australia into the future. Question agreed to.